Sindo hacks crying into their beer over Shinners shunning Dáil bar

THE Sunday Independent was unhappy that Sinn Féin TDs, senators and staff are rarely in the Dáil Bar – a regular haunt of many politicians and Leinster House journalists.

Part of this week's tirade against Sinn Féin noted that the party "makes a point of not socialising in the Dáil" but they do "make full use" of the staff canteen!

It may be news to the Sindo, but having a lunch-break during a long working day is a necessity – having a few pints and chasers while you're at work, not so much. In any other job this kind of behaviour wouldn't be tolerated.

Judging from the outrage that greeted Gerry Adams's suggestion that TDs be breathalysed before entering the Dáil to vote, drinking on the job is par of the course for some deputies.

On RTÉ's Radio, one journalist complained that Sinn Féin TDs and staff never have coffee with her in Leinster House. In the Sunday Business Post it was noted that Sinn Féin's staff and elected representatives aren't particularly pally with other parties outside the Dáil chamber.

This whingeing from the media stems from the fact that some journalists and politicians are almost part of the furniture in the Dáil bar. Like vultures, journos hover, waiting for the meetings of the various parties to end and for them to be fed titbits of information from lowly, often disgruntled, backbench barflies.

The Irish Times noted:

"A routine assignment is to find out what happened at the weekly parliamentary party meetings. These are meetings of TDs and senators, which are supposed to be private. They are anything but. There is one exception. Sinn Féin holds a weekly meeting involving not only its 17 TDs and senators but also its 60 or so staff in Leinster House. Yet nothing escapes. Not enough for a haiku, let alone a 500-word report."

As Sinn Féin's Sineád Ní Bhroin, a political adviser based in Leinster House, pointed out on her blog, in no other job would it be acceptable for members of staff to complain and gossip about internal meetings to the media or the general public. Backbiting people one shares a common goal with is not clever or helpful.

The reason such an attitude is lauded by the media is because, without backbenchers in Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour feeding them gossip and hearsay in the Dáil Bar, many of the political reporters and commentators may be forced to do some actual journalism.