Leo Varadkar launches jabs at 'the misleader' Mary Lou McDonald suggesting her style is unsuited to job of taoiseach and telling her: 'You cannot be pigheaded'

During the debate, Sinn Fein leader Mrs McDonald claimed that the taoiseach had said Ireland was “small and therefore ineffectual” on the international stage.

Mr Varadkar pointed out that those were not in fact his words, adding that “the misleader strikes again” (although the taoiseach had acknowledged that Ireland “is not a major economic or political power”).

Tuesday’s Dail session – which is basically the Irish version of Prime Minister’s Questions – began with Mrs McDonald saying: “The people of Gaza stand at the threshold of annihilation. Nobody can say they did not see. Nobody can say they did not hear. Nobody can say they did not know. This is happening in full sight of the world…

"At the meeting of the European Council on Thursday, will the Taoiseach tell European leaders that they must make the call for an unequivocal, full ceasefire?”

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Mr Varadkar responded: “I will certainly do the best I can to persuade our colleagues in other European countries to agree a common European position.

"I will not tell them. That is a very particular approach.

"The approach the Deputy might adopt as Taoiseach would be to attend the meeting, point the finger, tell people off and hold a press conference afterwards.

"That is not how you do this job.”

He added: “This is particularly the case for a small country like Ireland, which is not a major economic or political power. We use the power of persuasion, reputation and contacts.”

Mrs McDonald responded: “The answer is, of course, not a military one it is a political and diplomatic one. The Taoiseach may say that we are small and therefore ineffectual but I say that Ireland...”

A number of TD then jumped in to interrupt, saying that she was misquoting the taoiseach.

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Mr Varadkar replied: “We are small but we are far from ineffectual. We are a country that punches well above its weight in international relations.

"I did not say what the Deputy said: the misleader strikes again putting words in other people's mouths and stating things that are not true.

"If the Deputy ever has the opportunity to attend a European Council meeting, whether as a Minister or perhaps even as Taoiseach, she will understand that there are 27 different member states and they all have their different perspective.

"Our attitude to the conflict in Israel and Palestine is very much guided by our own historical experience but the Deputy needs to understand that people's attitudes in other countries might also be guided by their historical experience, particularly in relation to the events in the 1930s and 1940s, and you have to be sensitive to that and not pigheaded about it.”