TD's prank call to Mattie Mgrath repossession protest,on the night before the budget..

''Five TDs, cosy in the warmth of the taxpayer-subsidised Dail members' bar, played a cruel prank on independent TD Mattie McGrath as he battled on behalf of a farmer in trouble with a financial institution.

As Mr McGrath, who is diabetic, was in the 10th hour of a sit-in at the offices of Friends First along with five others, Dail colleagues were creased with laughter as they made a hoax call purporting to be from Pizza Hut, offering free pizza to the protesters.

In on the mocking skit were Labour's Michael McCarthy, Fine Gael deputies Tom Hayes and Patrick O'Donovan and Fianna Fail TDs Michael Moynihan and Dara Calleary.

Mr McGrath fell for the joke, he admitted yesterday.

In the call, Mr McCarthy who has a reputation as a mimic, purported to be an Italian.

"They should be ashamed of themselves. While they were warming their backsides in Leinster House, Mattie McGrath was out working for a farmer who wasn't even in his constituency," he said.''

I think it was wholly wrong for TD's to call a fellow TD while working on the night of the toughest budget of our times.

It tells us where their priorities lie,and these childish schoolboy antics should not go unpunished.

They get 100,000 plus in their salaries,as it is,some of them over that amount,and it hasnt been TOUCHED in the budget.

This is the respect we get from our TD's,they dont represent you or me,they represent themselves.

Sitting in a public tax subsidised bar,drinking and prank calling pretending to be a pizza parlour,while this man gets his tractor taken away..

Tells us they are really not in touch with the people who are suffering in ireland.