Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It says everything about the Taoiseach that when his performance or competence in the discharge of his duties is questioned, he lashes out. In an exchange earlier today, he accused me of being too radical and - ouch - apparently I am a bully. The Taoiseach levelled these accusations at me for having the temerity to put it to him that he is not acquitting himself well at this point, when the Brexit negotiations are at a sensitive point, and that he has taken his eye off the ball or lost his nerve.

The Taoiseach may have seen a letter published yesterday in the Irish Newsfrom over 1,000 people from what is termed "civic nationalism". They set out in the clearest terms their needs and the benchmarks required to protect their rights. They have written to the Taoiseach and I really hope he does not see them as being too radical and does not feel bullied by them on the open pages of a newspaper. If he has not read the letter, I suggest he study it very carefully. It sets out all of the well-trodden ground we have been across and all the reasons we do not have institutions in the North. For the record, those reasons have everything to do with the Democratic Unionist Party, DUP, and its toxic relationship with British Prime Minister May, as well as the fact that the Government has failed to move forward those matters. The authors, not me, have asked that language rights, rights around marriage equality and so on be honoured and given expression to. If the Taoiseach finds me too radical, does not like how I put things to him or feels - God help him, the poor delicate soul - a bit challenged by the fact that he is being challenged on the floor of the Dáil, I invite him not to respond to me because that clearly causes him angst, but to the 1,000 people who signed the letter directed to him in which they set out his responsibilities, mar Thaoiseach, to them as Irish citizens. I ask him for a response to their letter.

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