Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Over the past few days, the former chief executive officer of the FAI stepped aside amid a hail of controversy. I will not name him in deference to the House's rules. He is being kept on in the FAI in another role and it is my belief that he is being kept on in that role to facilitate him getting a position on UEFA. The FAI must not allow this to happen while a cloud hangs over this man's head. I do not say that the man has done anything wrong but let us know exactly the full story before Ireland is represented at UEFA level by somebody who we may not want in the position.

I have spoken on many occasions in this House about the use of cybertechnology in bullying Trump-like or, to a certain degree, childish behaviour and I was deeply disappointed last weekend to find the Government party using an image of the leader of the Fianna Fáil wagging his finger. It is beneath politics. It is all good for us to have a robust engagement in this House with one another but when one starts using images, it brings us down to the level of schoolchildren. It is the epitome of cyberbullying. It is wrong, in every sense of the word. I am not saying it because it is the Fine Gael Party, which I hold in great esteem. Nobody in politics should ever use images like that to criticise somebody else in politics. One can get up and say all one wants. One does not have to use these images. We do not have to go to the extremes that we complain about members of the public going to when they refer to us. It is beneath us. It is beneath politics. The Taoiseach should come out and apologise, not necessarily to the Fianna Fáil Party but to the country for stooping to the levels that we would not expect of any decent citizen in this country.