SEANAD REPORT:SEANAD LEADER Donie Cassidy said he wanted to apologise to the House and to the people of Ireland for any hurt that might have been caused by comments he made in a newspaper interview.

David Norris (Ind) called on Mr Cassidy to clarify his remarks, asking if he did not accept that he had brought the Seanad into disrepute by reportedly saying that he found if difficult to get by with four children on €65,000 a year.

“I find that astonishing, and I was very ashamed when I heard it,” said Mr Norris. “I don’t know how anybody could make a provocative statement like that – if that statement was made – in the face of the fact that there are people in this country who are losing their jobs, are living on the minimum wage of €8.60 an hour or who cannot pay their mortgages.”

Jerry Buttimer (FG) said there was a perception that many politicians were living the high life, when this was not the case.

He wondered if the Government would ever understand the optics. Cabinet members had pretended, last Monday, to be working on a bank holiday by going to Farmleigh in their State cars. Ministers had leaned out of their car windows claiming to feel peoples’ pain, when clearly, many of those in Government did not.

Mr Cassidy said his intention had been to highlight the difficulties being faced by everyone, and that Senators would play their part in addressing the reality that we faced as a nation. He knew people in the country were hurting. It had never been his intention to convey otherwise. “I apologise again. We all learn from time to time.”