Did Sean Barrett have a glass of beer with him in the Dail Chamber yesterday?

[tokkie]

Well that's great, isn't it. The government is paying someone to spend their time browsing on (and responding to) internet forums to see if someone is making jokes about the chairman of the Dáil, a TD who is well able to defend himself, skulling pints at work. Meanwhile the country is bankrupt.

Your tax euros at work. . .sadly.

Don't be a stupid cnut. The government is not paying someone to browse the internet responding to internet forums. Someone took a minute to counter a false accusation.

[Houyhnhnm]

Fail.

DC contacted the communications unit and they registered just to knock this silliness on the head.

It says so right up there ^ if you bothered to read it.

What is says is he flagged it, by which I presume he meant the comment, after it was posted to confirm it genuinely was an employee of the Oireachtas who posted it. This is logical when taken with the second part of DC's sentence where he states "and I can confirm this is their Politics.ie account."

If DC thought it was defamatory he surely would have closed the thread?

Complete nonsense.

They were asked a question. They answered it. If they didn't you'd be whinging that they wouldn't answer the question.

They were? Who asked them the question directly? Looks to me they were browsing here same as any other poster and decided contribute, just like any other poster. The difference is they are being paid to do it with government money. Oireachtas PR, eh?

Oh and I'm quite capable of choosing for myself what to whinge about, thank you very much.

[David Cochrane]

You're being an eejit. A user started a thread, I forwarded a link to the Oireachtas Comms unit and they logged in here to reply, and set the record straight. Had they not responded, there would and been 20+ pages going on about it. They responded promptly and directly.

Politics.ie is seen as an essential part of political discourse, and discussions here do end up in newspapers, so when something comes up, we should be grateful that the Houses of the Oireachtas staff find this site worthy of their time.

There's lots for you to be upset about today, this isn't one of them.

[KingCash]

Probably some brew conjured up by Satan.

lol

[Houyhnhnm]

You're being an eejit. A user started a thread, I forwarded a link to the Oireachtas Comms unit and they logged in here to reply, and set the record straight. Had they not responded, there would and been 20+ pages going about it. They responded promptly and directly.

There's lots for you to be upset about today, this isn't one of them.

If that's what happened then fair enough. A little bemused that they didn't just reply directly to you for you to post the denial (or that they replied at all as in doing so they somewhat legitimised the thread in the first place - cf. the old political tactic of 'let's see them deny it'). Either way thanks for setting the record straight.

[eskrimador]

This is a still from the Dail debate on the budget yesterday. As can be seen Sean Barrett seems to have a pint or a glass of beer to his right hand. I could well be wrong - and if someone can clarify please do - but if it is indeed a pint of beer I find it a bit incredible...

I was exhaling smoke when I read the OP hedline on the forum menu and misread it as Syd Barret.

Now, that would have been a thread

[Bagman]

Churchill drank Brandy while delivering the budget Speech and Ken clarke drank Whiskey!

[eskrimador]

Look at the head on that

Thought you couldn't see under his gown?

Maeve Lewinsky perhaps?

[eoghanacht]

Churchill drank Brandy while delivering the budget Speech and Ken clarke drank Whiskey!

Cowan sang the Lakes of Ponchartrain.

[David Cochrane]

The answer to the question posed above is no. There is absolutely no question of the Ceann Comhairle bringing a glass of beer into the chamber.

Communications Unit
Houses of the Oireachtas

From Miriam Lord in this mornimg's Irish Times:

The Dáil Communications Unit had to get involved when the picture appeared on the politics.ie website, posting a terse declaration that there was “absolutely no question of the Ceann Comhairle bringing a glass of beer into the chamber”.

Ceann Comhairle YouTubed but not yet driven to drink - The Irish Times - Sat, Dec 10, 2011