He was responding to the question from Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl : “How familiar is the Tánaiste with the hair and beauty sector?” The Tánaiste had been canvassing with party colleague Stephen Donnelly in Wicklow recently. “We walked into a barber shop and Deputy Donnelly said he always gets very lonely when he comes into this place. It’s an issue for those of us who are challenged,” he said, as Mr Donnelly rubbed his follicly challenged head.
The issue of hairdressers came up when Sinn Féin ’s Louise O’Reilly raised a €1.4 billion grant scheme for small businesses where €1.1 billion had been returned to the exchequer because the scheme was “too complicated” and seemed to exclude hairdressers who “are struggling every bit as much” as other sectors.
Mr Martin assured Ms O’Reilly that he would talk to Ministers urgently about this. It was a lighter moment on the final day that turned into a mix of tributes to and from retiring TDs, fiery electioneering, heckling, interventions and threats from the Ceann Comhairle that he would suspend the House if people did not behave. The election campaign was clearly in the air including when retiring People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith said Opposition parties had a “duty to stop propping up Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael ” and to “make a commitment” if re-elected that “they will not prop up either of these 100-year-old parties of failure”.
Micheál Martin responded with: “I am the .