Leo Varadkar has been slammed in the Dail as “a big shot” who "looks down his nose” at country TDs.
Sparks flew between Dublin TD Mr Varadkar and Kerry TD Michael Healy Rae in Leinster House as the two politicians from very different parts of the country crossed swords again.
Mr Healy Rae accused Leo Varadkar of being “a big shot” and “airy fairy” after the Tanaiste claimed the Kerry TD didn’t understand his answers.
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Mr Varadkar hit back and said that Mr Healy Rae always “looked down on him” and asked for him to “reflect” on what he said.
The debate was supposed to be about a proposed LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) terminal to be located in Mr Healy Rae’s home constituency of Kerry, but it soon went off topic.
It got testy when Mr Healy Rae said: “The funny part of it is I would not dare to look down my nose at the Tanaiste or anyone else because I do not do that, but maybe the Tanaiste does because he is a bit of a big shot.”
The Kerry TD added: “Like I say, off we too (sic) with the airy fairies and see how far it will get you.
“But the Tanaiste can be sure of one thing.
“It is not nice for the Tanaiste to look down his nose at me and say what he said to me a while ago.
“It is not nice.”
Mr Varadkar responded: “The truth is the Deputy looks down on me.
“The Deputy thinks that, because I am from Dublin, because I am middle-class and because I do not talk the way the Deputy talks and I have the accent that I have, somehow I do not understand real people, but he is wrong.
“I am elected just as much as the Deputy is.”
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