It’s like a scene from the Muppets. Up in the eaves of the Dáil sit Deputies Ming Flanagan, Mick Wallace and Shane Ross amongst other members of the technical group.
During the order of business this afternoon the microphones were left on during a vote. Waldorf Wallace and Statler Ming without ties along with Comrade Ross view the members around them and start chewing the cud. Seemingly still annoyed at the discussion on the proposed new rules on the standard of dress of members, the talk turns to those around them.
From 1:09
Mick Wallace “…Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today.”
Shane Ross: “Who’s that?”
Wallace: “Ms Piggy has toned it down a bit.”
Ming Flanagan: “That Mary Mitchell O’Connor one. I couldn’t remember her name on Vincent Browne.”
Ross: “Was she on with you?”
Ming: “No (indecipherable)…the one who drove off the plinth. They’d want to ban her wearing pink.”
Ross: “Ha Ha Ha. Oh yeah, that’s right. She’s nothing sensational [today] she normally wears the most garish colours (trails off)…”
Updated transcript thanks to Broadsheet.ie
Oh dear oh dear all that bull about clothes not mattering lads and getting the job done eh?
Jaysus. That is all.
jmj… And did Shane Ross not think it inappropriate for a member of Dail Eireann to publicly call out BoI members yesterday? He’s no longer some ‘shareholder’… just a shouty backbencher…
Sounds like it was Wallace and not Ming who named her.
Wow, where did you find this?
A disgusting attitude to a fellow TD who happens to be female….Sky Sports presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys were fired for the same sort of sexist remarks…It’s a pity the electorate cannot fire these guys for a while.
Ah, big deal. Ye are like the pricess and the pea.
Mick Wallace refers to Mary Mitchell O'Connor as 'Ms Piggy' in the Dail - Page 8 // Jul 12, 2011 at 21:17
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For the sake of completeness, some more around (indecipherable):
No, she wasn’t. But then I was [coming?] (indecipherable) oh, the one who drove off the plinth.
Deputy Daly (SP) is in ear shot of the mics throughout, therefore in ear shot of the lads. She is having another conversation. Not that that means she did or didnt hear it. Just adding that she is in the audio.
Horrific. Ross should be ashamed of himself. Disgraceful.
Interesting insight. Shows Wallace and Flanagan in particular to be sexist sneers.
Seriously?!
They were having a **private** conversation, which was recorded & reported. The content of this conversation was certainly a bit sexist, and perhaps unbecoming, but other than an unfortunate off-the-cuff moniker ie. Miss Piggy, they haven’t said anything untrue or inaccurate, and they have given their own opinions on her choice of clothing & a reminder of the incident on the steps of the Dail.
I find it unlikely in the extreme that any of those commenting here or on the twitter machine can swear that they have NEVER said something inappropriate in private about another person, something that would embarass them or the person they’d discussed if reported??! Please! It’s human nature, and women do it ALL THE TIME about ourselves & about men. And if you deny this you are telling fibs!
The most this needs to be resolved is a brief apology from the TDs for making personal comments in the Chamber. And MMOC should laugh it off without comment.
Caricatures Ireland » Mick Wallace & Luke “Ming” Flanagan: Miss Piggy & Gonzo // Jul 12, 2011 at 23:50
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Not wanting to sound all conspiracy theorist, but anyone just the tiniest bit suspicious about the source of this?
Healy-Rae previously and 3 more independents today.
Common factors Leinster House and technology?
Oh Bob, as this was going out live there were people watching it and commenting online that it was taking place. It actually happens a bit – ie microphones being left live when a vote is on.
More cutting-edge investigative journalism from Ireland’s foremost political blogger.
Keep up the good work mamam poulet, it’s those b**tards like Wallace and Ross who have been closing hospital wards and condemning the sick and disabled to the gutters…
Oh wait, no, that’s Fine Gael, the party O’connor is a proud member of.
good to see you fighting the good fight here Mamam. It’s the poor TDs of Fine Gael who need your solace and protection.
Well done. Well done indeed.
Davoren of course is ignoring the post next to this which highlights the cuts to social welfare the government announced. Or the posts last week on disability and the conditions people are living in.
So called Lefties can’t take it when the sexism of their leaders is called on can they?
PS Suzy I see you are providing Lise Hand with copy – copying your description of Flanagan and Wallace exactly too.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/muppets-caught-on-microphone-making-miss-piggy-jibe-2819917.html
Defending the slashers of Roscommon A@E.
A proud moment in the fight against sexism.
I hope you’re giving yourself a big pat on the back there Kate, it’s people like you that Fine Gael are going to need more of when they cut fuel allowance to old people.
Keep up the good work
Of course it’s all a bit of banter, but what gets me, over and over again, is how men (who obviously don’t even own a mirror) think nothing about commenting about a woman’s appearance. This all reminds me of third class, when the boys in the back would snigger at the little girls. I’m truly sick of it. Grow up, guys, and have a good ole look at yourselves. Not all of you are gi(f)ts to women. Meh.
It was hardly sexist was it. In fact it was an annoyed man, jokingly pointing out the inherent sexism of banning men from wearing certain colours but allowing women to wear them.
There may not be a huge amount of areas in society where women have social advantage over men. But women have a hell of a lot more choice when it comes to workplace attire than men do. And two of these men have clearly demonstrated a desire for that choice to be extended to them and were roundly criticised for it. They are just, rightly, pissed off at the glaring double standard.
From the IT: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0713/breaking25.html
:”Ms Mitchell O’Connor said she was very upset and had tears in her eyes when she first heard the comments but is now over it.
“It is over as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned this is what happened – there is an old boys’ club, surely to God, in Dáil Éireann. I think women should be treated with respect, not just me, but women in general.
“I would think that any woman thinking that she might go for politics would be turned off today when they hear this kind of chat and banter.”
hahahah – oh Grow Up Woman – any woman interested in a political career who suddenly decide not to bother on the basis of this non-event deserves ridicule. Is it any wonder some men get the mistaken idea that a lot of women are pathetic weak-willed wall-flowers?
I agree with Amy above – to me it sounds like Wallace is still a little peeved that he’s been told what to wear and how to wear it.while someone he obviously has little respect for (and I doubt it is because of her gender, I’d say her political affiliation probably has more to do with it) can wear what she likes and how she likes.
The obvious sexist double standard seems to have escaped the attention of just about all the stalwart anti-sexists commenting
Purely for the sake of checking Wallace’s accuracy, ie. whether or not there was any similarity between the ever-so-sensitive Miss Piggy and the ever-so-sensitive Miss O’Connor Mitchell . . . and well . . .
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/fs/img/news/201103/dockland1.jpg
http://s3.jrnl.ie/media/2011/07/689-Dail-activities-390×285.jpg
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/fs/img/news/201103/dockland1.jpg
Miss Piggy
http://whoisnoladarling.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/miss-piggy-ne-yo-01.jpeg
http://www.tonnerdoll.com/2009TonnerSite/2009Images/MissPiggy/piggytakesmanhattan.jpg
looks like Wallace wasn’t too far off the mark
TDs behaving like school children in the Dáil…
Happens every single day.
@ barbara,
men ?
not all of ‘us’ are ‘complete bastards’
Hubris go off an play on the Daily Mail or somewhere will you? You say it’s not anti sexist and then head down the gendered route yourself.
Is this workplace Bullying ? No never ! banter is all it was , harmless banter like that rossport rape tape , harmless banter among workmates , worthy of any elected public representative, nothing to worry about & For what its worth heres some more harmless banter Wallace is a self promoting egotist , pity then that he has no policies & dresses like a tramp . Ming is a one trick pony smartarse who has fried his brain on ganja & Shane Ross has halitosis , but don’t complain or worry folks cos it’s HARMLESS BANTER
no – I’m just pointing out the ridiculousness of Ms M-O’C claiming that women are so weak that her being compared to Ms Piggy would put off “any woman “ (her words) engaging in politics. I’m slightly amused that you lot are ok with her doing that.
I happen to know quite a lot of women involved in the frontlines of politics, and it’s a rough business for both males and females, for different reasons, and few if any would actually be put off engaging in politics all because the poor little ever-so-sensitive Ms M-O’C “was very upset and had tears in her eyes when she first heard the comments” (oh boohoo, if THAT is not a stereotype of ‘weak women’ then what is?) – ESPECIALLY as she actually DOES bear a slight resemblance to Miss Piggy .
ANY woman put off politics by this, probably has little to offer anyway. I suspect Ms M-O’C has little to offer and is probably an obedient party-hack ready to do the bidding of her corrupt Political Masters.
“For what its worth heres some more harmless banter Wallace is a self promoting egotist , pity then that he has no policies & dresses like a tramp . Ming is a one trick pony smartarse who has fried his brain on ganja & Shane Ross has halitosis , but don’t complain or worry folks cos it’s HARMLESS BANTER ”
In politics all you have just said is perfectly acceptable – in your opinion Wallace Ming and Ross are all those things – I support your right to voice your opinion without a horde of PC over-sensitives clucking disapprovingly (though they too have a right to cluck disapprovingly if that’s what floats their boat)
Similarly I support Wallace’s right to voice his opinion that Ms M-O’C looks like Ms Piggy – especially when she does, more than a little, as the pics I linked to show
@ barbara “Grow up, guys, and have a good ole look at yourselves. Not all of you are gi(f)ts to women. Meh.”
yet I seriously doubt that , were you to tell men that they are ‘not gifts to women’, few if any men would get “very upset and have tears in [his] eyes when [he] first heard the comments” nor would they be likely to immediately reach for the ‘sexism’ card like poor little over-sensitive Ms M-O’C has done.
Official Bio – Miss Piggy is one of the few Muppets to be fully realized in three dimensions. She spawned a huge fad for some 20 years and eclipsed Kermit and the other Muppets in popularity, selling far more merchandise and writing a book that, unlike any of Kermit’s books, wound up on top of the New York Times Bestseller List. Miss M M O’Connor…….what a comparison ……..that you should achieve so much!
Ms M-O’c now claims that she want’s to ‘move on’ but curiously “Mitchell O’Connor refuses to accept ‘Miss Piggy’ apology” – today at 10:15 am
“Hours after reports emerged that Indepdndent TD Mick Wallace had referred to Fine Gael backbencher Mary Mitchell O’Connor as ‘Miss Piggy’, the politician today refused his apology.”
Listeners heard that apparent fashionista Wallace called the politician “Eight times and rang this morning at 6.30. To be fair to him, he did try to apologise – I didn’t get that far [to allow him],” Ms Mitchell O’Connor told Newstalk’s Breakfast radio this morning.
“Look I was hurt, I was upset actually but it’s over, there’s way more important things. I want to move on. I don’t want to hear anymore about it today. There’s so much going on that’s so much more important than me. [o'rly?]
“I’m over it!” she told the station this morning, before bemoaning the trivial nature of recent Dail disputes.
“ I would like to make a serious point,” she said. “What’s going on in Dail Eireann is disgraceful. “
“The shouting and the roaring, one trying to shout down another, one trying to get more media coverage than the other. Dail Eireann needs to get the government back on track and that’s not happening.”
Looks to me like Ms M-O’C is herself milking this for coverage.
Her refusal to accept an apology is slightly pathetic
As a woman who pioneered women’s rights from the 1970′s, broke into quite a few previously ‘men only roles’ and supported women working for and with me since to do the same, this ‘poor weak little me’, OTT PC reaction drives me crazy.
It completely demeans women. Really!
Me and others did not tread a hard path for younger women to follow for this type of reaction, making drama out of a silly comment.
Miss Piggy was a strong female with personality, aspire to her strength.
Too many women today seem to have bought into the need to have a sexist anti male agenda seeing problems everywhere.
What results, a bit like the story of the boy who cried wolf, is when everything is made to be such a big issue, the real big issues are undermined.
Women please act like WOMEN, show skill, knowledge, strength, integrity, humour and not react at every small slight like some talentless actress hysterically playing a bit part in some cheap soap opera.
You are worth more and are capable of much more. It’s your behaviour and success that teaches others how to treat you.
Go and achieve because of your competence, completeness as a woman and human being, not because of your whining, aggression and pretend ‘worst of man’ behaviour.
End of rant
Lovely for some to turn this into a sexism/pc bashing game. Given that remarks were heard being made slagging Bernard Durkan’s suit I think its clear that the problem with this is about hypocrisy and cheap remarks.
If Mick Wallace and Ming Flanagan want to be able to wear what they want then they need to shut the fuck up commenting on the dress or appearance of others whatever gender they are.
Ms M-O’C is not only a crude self-publicist but apparently also a living breathing example of the ‘Ditzy blonde’ stereotype
http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2011/0302/media-2917006.html#
“If Mick Wallace and Ming Flanagan want to be able to wear what they want then they need to shut the fuck up commenting on the dress or appearance of others whatever gender they are.”
1) it was a private conversation – overheard by mics left switched on – so it was not a Public statement regarding her clothes. there’s a difference between the two.
2) Ming’s comment “They’d want to ban her wearing pink” was obviously intended to be humourous – especially considering that the new house rules regarding dress-code are specifically aimed at both he and Wallace.
Would hubris mind just expressing an opinion once and leaving it at that, instead of trolling after everyone’s comments. Please? Thanks! (don’t worry, i won’t be offended if i’m one of the only few who don’t get a hubris comment!)
Mick Wallace, by his own admission, was out of order. End of!
nah – upsetting easily upset people like you, Jen, makes it all the more fun
Piggygate and Women in Politics | Unkind Reason // Jul 14, 2011 at 10:11
[...] to Maman Poulet for the video and the story, which is now all over the actual and not just internet [...]
Pink Day in Leinster House // Jul 14, 2011 at 23:01
[...] suggested by Wicklow Labour TD Anne Ferris to Fine Gael’s Mary Mitchell O’Connor after the remarks overheard on Tuesday evening. Members of the house have been encouraged to wear pink, should be no problem for Mick Wallace. [...]