Presidential candidate Peter Casey has accused the current President Michael D Higgins of lying about the use of the government jet and encouraged the incumbent President to tell the truth.
In a heated debate during RTE’s Prime Time Presidential debate, Mr Casey called out President Higgins after he provided the wrong information in regards to the use of the jet which costs €4,000 per hour to run.
The heated exchange which also involved the remaining candidates, seemingly kicked off when President Higgins claimed that he only used the costly jet twice in the past year.
However infuriated by his response, a quick to react Mr Casey pointed out that the President had indeed used the jet four times over the past 12 months
Mr Casey who has come in for stern criticism in recent day’s was unwilling to let President Higgins off the hook when he said that the President’s remarks were a complete lie and knew full well as his use of the jet was documented.
He said: “It has been used four times it’s documented, sure it’s in the newspapers it must be true.”
In the strong rebuttle, the former Dragon’s Den star also called on President Higgins to start telling the truth, saying: “Michael you have to start telling the truth – you didn’t tell the truth when you said you were only going to stand for one Presidential election, that was a lie.”
Although President Higgins repeatedly defended the use of the jet, he seemingly refused to answer Mr Casey’s questions by issuing one statement saying: “I’m not going to comment on people who suggest that I’m incapable of telling the truth”.
President Higgins also said his entire life had been about authenticity and that he stood for values even though they were unpopular.
However it seemed that Mr Casey wasn’t finished there as he said the President “couldn’t lie straight in bed” and that he had a lot to answer for.