While the music world mourns the passing of rap icon Coolio at the age of 59, the last place he'd expect to get a mention would be Dáil Éireann but his name and lyrics are on the Dáil record forevermore.
In a resurfaced clip from 2020, TD Thomas Pringle can be seen rising to his feet on the Regulation of Lobbying Bill and using the late rapper's words to land a savage dig on successive governments in Ireland.
He quoted the hip hop legend right at the beginning of his address: "'Power and the money, money and the power, minute after minute, hour after hour' - Coolio might have been rapping about a Gangsta's Paradise back in 1995 but he could just as easily have been referring to politics around the world, including Irish politics and lobbying," he said.
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He continued: "Power and money tend to go hand in hand. We used to see it in the Galway races tent, and we still see it at fancy Covid restriction-breaking golf dinners and in the golden circle, the inner sanctum, and the revolving door of politicians, lobbyists, Attorneys General and Supreme Court judges," Deputy Pringle continued.
"It is all about who knows who, and who can influence policy. It is such a shame, is it not? Politics was supposed to have become more transparent and accountable. The days of the brown envelopes were supposed to have been behind us while corporate interests were expected to document and detail their meetings with public officials when seeking to influence policy.
"Unfortunately, many loopholes exist in the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, an Act that is yet another example of the Government paying lip service to an important issue without giving it the teeth to impose sanctions and prosecute for breaches of the Act," he said at the time."
Deputy Pringle posted the clip of his Dáil mention to Twitter today with the hashtag #RIPCoolio. Coolio sadly passed away on Wednesday at the age of 59 from a suspected cardiac arrest.
Gangsta's Paradise was his most well-known hit and hit number one in the charts in the US, UK and Ireland in 1995. It has more than one billion views on video-streaming service YouTube.
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