Flanagan reported to Oireachtas that TD stopped him leaving meeting

THE INDEPENDENT Roscommon-South Leitrim TD Luke Flanagan wrote to the Oireachtas authorities a few weeks before his altercation with Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett alleging that Laois-Offaly Fine Gael TD Marcella Corcoran-Kennedy had blocked his way and prevented him from leaving a meeting.

Mr Flanagan and Ms Corcoran Kennedy had attended a meeting of the Oireachtas environment committee in late June, which had discussed the problem caused to local farmers by excessive flooding in the river Shannon area.

At the end of the meeting, Ms Corcoran-Kennedy approached Mr Flanagan and challenged him over references he had made to her on his Twitter social media account.

Later that evening, Mr Flanagan tweeted: “I am reporting Deputy Corcoran Kennedy to the Oireachtas usher staff for physically denying me from leaving the meeting on Shannon floods.”

When another account user asked did she really block his way, he replied: “Meeting was over. She refused on three occasions to let me pass unless I listened to her rant. Not acceptable.”

However, Ms Corcoran-Kennedy denied she blocked his way but said that she wanted to challenge him face-to-face about posts on his Twitter account. She also accused Mr Flanagan of bullying.

In the posts, he claimed Ms Corcoran-Kennedy had clapped when a speaker had advocated breaking the law to resolve the issue of flooding.

Mr Flanagan referred to it several times on Twitter. “She applauds law-breaking when it gets her votes and denies it then when her bosses are around,” one tweet said.

The Fine Gael TD contended that Mr Flanagan had not made those comments in front of her but only on his Twitter account.

Giving her account of the incident at the end of the committee meeting, she said: “I walked around the table and said, ‘If you have to say anything, say it to me straight’. He accused me of blocking his way.”

Ms Corcoran-Kennedy denied that she blocked his way. “I have a big issue about Twitter. He was going behind my back to say something about me. It is classic bullying behaviour.”

Mr Flanagan could not be contacted for comment this week.

In an opinion article he wrote in the Irish Daily Mail on Monday, he asserted that he would not apologise to the Ceann Comhairle over the verbal altercation that occurred on the corridor outside the Dáil chamber. Mr Flanagan said Mr Barrett should apologise.

He also said that Mr Barrett was biased, incompetent and unfit for office. He contended that the Ceann Comhairle should step down from the position.

An Oireachtas spokesman was not in a position to confirm if a letter had been received but said that all these matters would be dealt with by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges when the Dáil returned at the end of September.