There's been a heated row in the Dáil over the new rules around restricting movements for household close contacts.
Labour leader and Tipperary TD Alan Kelly has insisted the Taoiseach told him teachers would be exempt from the rules in a conversation yesterday - urging Micheál Martin to call him a liar if it was untrue.
The Taoiseach hit back denying he said anything of the sort during an off-mic exchange in the Dáil.
Micheál Martin and Alan Kelly picked up the row in the Dáil this afternoon:
Taoiseach: "And suddenly you come over here for a 30 or 40-second engagement, you scamper up, you tell your education correspondent who tweets something and it's reported as fact, it's extraordinary, anyway I don't believe it...."
Alan Kelly: "If you want to call me a liar, call me a liar...."
Taoiseach: "I'm just putting it straight now, I never said those words..."
Taoiseach: "I learned something about you (Alan Kelly) that I will never forget and that will govern our relationship from now onwards, in terms of the nature of the engagements I've never seen the likes of it before."
Alan Kelly: "Taoiseach you're also the Taoiseach who said the banks were bailed out and your threats over the phone and your threats in here don't bother me and well let the public decide who they believe and I think they already know."
