Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I join Senators in extending my sincere condolences to the family of Michael O'Regan, The Irish Timesand his friends and colleagues in journalism. May eternal rest be granted to him. Michael was a very pleasant man and it was always nice to deal with him. He had a lovely voice and interesting things to say. Like every good journalist, it was not just a matter of him telling war stories. He was eager to get information to feed into his informed analysis of various issues. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Political correspondents and journalists who ask questions of powerful people in government serve society very well and play an important role, and it is important that a reciprocal courtesy be extended to them. The courtesy we expect from them should also be shown to them. In that regard, I did not like what I saw online yesterday, although there are two sides to every story. It was the apparent blanking of a journalist from Gript by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, at a press conference. As I said, there are two sides to every story, but I checked with the people at Gript to see what had happened. Journalists’ questions are taken in the order in which they put up their hand. In this case, the journalist Ben Scallan offered a question at the end and the Taoiseach could be seen just gathering up his documents, and Micheál Martin doing the same, and leaving. Then Eamon Ryan, who is a model of courtesy, looked a little shocked but seemed to feel the need to do likewise.

Even a hurried word of apology from the Taoiseach to say he could not reach the journalist that day but that there would be another time would have been acceptable, but we do not want any suspicion or suggestion that there are people who are less in favour with the people in power than others. You do not have to like Gript or agree with everything written in its opinion pieces to recognise it represents a considerable portion of the public and asks questions, very often, that others do not seem to be asking. It may well be, given that the Taoiseach was a little bad tempered to an Irish Independentjournalist yesterday, that it was an off day, but we do not want the Xi Jinping approach. When his deputy was here in Ireland, there were not even questions from the media. Members of the Government need to be seen to be always open to questions, even from the people they do not like.