Statuesque Leo Varadkar has risked a rising of “the little people” after clashing with the less-towering Mattie McGrath in the Dáil.
The Tánaiste was responding to Mr McGrath, an independent TD for Tipperary, when he brought his height into the debate and appeared to make fun of his diminutive “stature.”
Mr Varadkar gave this close-to-the-bone retort: “If there is one thing nobody would mistake Deputy Mattie McGrath for, it is a little person; he can be sure of that. We all recognise his stature."
This was met with a withering stare back from Mr McGrath, who had just finished a rant himself against Mr Varadkar’s Fine Gael party.
Mr McGrath had said: “The dishonesty and deceit that has been perpetrated on public representatives and the people is shameful and that is why politics is the way it is in this country.
“All the Government wants is big jobs and powerful positions and to hell with the little people but the little people will rise up in the spirit of C.J. Kickham of Tipperary and will not accept this from the so-called coalition.”
Mr McGrath was less than pleased with Mr Varadkar’s attempt at a joke.
However, most political pundits would agree with Mr Varadkar to some degree, there’s nothing little about the presence of Mr McGrath in full flight.
Mr McGrath later added that he wasn’t talking about people of the same “stature” as him, but was standing up for “small shopkeepers” and other small businesses across Ireland.
