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Paul Gogarty in the Dáil on Friday
John Bruton
March 14, 2010
VOL 27 NO 11
The swearing of the Green becomes a worldwide hit
Green Party TD Paul Gogarty joins a long line of politicians who have used swear words in public
Ruairí Quinn
Charlie Haughey
"Irish lawmaker unloads F-bomb in parliament," read yesterday's headline on the Huffington Post, the liberal US news website that is visited by 22 million people a month.
Paul Gogarty has gone global. The Dublin West Green Party TD has already become a YouTube hit following his "F**k you, Deputy Stagg" outburst in the Dáil on Friday afternoon. But Gogarty is by no means the first politician to use expletives. In fact, he joins a long line of perpetrators.
As recently as September, the Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd found himself at the centre of a political storm when he refused to apologise for using the F-word in a tirade of foul language during a heated meeting with members of the Australian Labour party in Canberra.
Rudd's recent comments were made behind closed doors, but he does have form as he used the word "shit-storm" on Australia's Sunday Night TV show last March.
Australian politics has been witness to many expletives in the past, as Labour senator Gareth Evans famously became the first Australian senator to say "f**k" in the Senate, when he interjected "For f**k's sake" during a speech by Senator Robert Hill in 1990.
Australian politics has a history of taking political mudslinging to a new level. In the 1970s, the Australian Democrats political party used the slogan "keep the bastards honest", a reference to the two main parties, for a number of years in its electioneering material.
Former prime minister Paul Keating likened one of his successors John Howard to a "mandy maggot" and described him as "brain-damaged".
Closer to home, former taoiseach Charlie Haughey will long be remembered for his infamous 1984 Hot Press interview where, referring to members of his own party, he said he wanted to push "a load of f*****s over a cliff" after cutting their throats.
Albert Reynolds landed himself in trouble for use of a less crude term when asked if it was true that he did not speak to Des O'Malley outside of the cabinet. He said: "I mean that, for the record, It's crap, total crap."
In 2001, then Labour leader Ruairí Quinn raised eyebrows with his "get the bastards out" rallying cry to the party faithful.
A lot of you-know-what hit the fan when a clearly exasperated John Bruton told a startled reporter that he had enough of answering questions about the "f***ing peace process".
Bruton's predecessor as leader of Fine Gael, Alan Dukes, caused a stir when he referred to a meeting with a bishop: "Only I had promised Garret that all I was going to do was sit and listen, I'd have been dug out of the bastard."
In 2001, the premier of the Canadian province of Ontario called a member of the opposition an "asshole" and in 2000 then US president George W Bush described a New York Times journalist as a "major league asshole".
The expletives of Gogarty, Bruton, Bush, Evans, and Rudd all pale into insignificance when compared to a shocking insult hurled at a female MP on the small Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.
The woman had to endure the words "Al donn to fes pitin. To abitie done mem" – which means "go and get screwed, you tart. You enjoy that" – being shouted at her.
Political insults are not a new phenomenon, either. When John Wilkes, the radical troublemaker and future lord mayor of London was warned by Lord Sandwich, a pillar of the 18th-century establishment, that he would "die of the pox or on the gallows," he replied: "That depends, my lord, on whether I first embrace your mistress or your principles."
More recently, Taoiseach Brian Cowen apologised after the Dáil microphones picked him up saying to Tánaiste Mary Coughlan: "We need to get a handle on this, will you ring those f*****s", in May 2008.
That seems like a storm in teacup when you, like thousands of others, look at Gogarty's F-bomb on YouTube.
December 13, 2009
Comments
#2
F**ked commented, on December 14, 2009 at 11:54 a.m.:
Gogarty's little speech eloquently expresses his party and government's attitude to public sector workers and social welfare recipients, singled out so that the bosses and bankers can stay high on the pig's back.
FF**k you, you FF**king FF**ker!
.
#3
nonie commented, on December 14, 2009 at 1:03 p.m.:
In fairness Brian Cowen's transgression of proper language wasn't delivered in the vicious, vile manner that Gogarty used. It was the manner of delivery that shocked me rather than the actual word.
#4
natrium commented, on December 14, 2009 at 5:13 p.m.:
I happened to be watching the debate on the web, and prior to his outburst he railed on about how 'sad' he was, that people on social welfare had to pay for the downright wrongdoing of the bankers and developers, and he had no choice but to vote for it. (That's when the heckling started)
In fact he did have a choice, it is not illegal to vote against the party whip, all it would mean is that he would be suspended, and therefore not entitled to party funds for his election posters and literature, come the next election.
He just wasn't 'sad' enough to allow his conscience affect his pocket.
Patrick Kavanagh's biography 'THE GREEN FOOL' takes on a whole new meaning.
#5
Jaker commented, on December 15, 2009 at 12:17 a.m.:
He & the rest of the Green's with their sidekicks Fianna Failure's & of course how could we leave out the 1 single PD catastrophe left & God help us in "Health" are causing more "Climate Change" by the day in this "Republic of Banana's" than all the pollution of the last hundred years in the whole of the world lumped together caused.
And then there's the opposition who couldn't win the opposition from the opposition if they tried & of course then there's the Independent's who scheme their conniving themes on the back of the poor and sick of society. I won't mention the pensioner's because while they were not affected this time, they sat on their pants without caring a hoot about their lesser well off "Disability Brethren" who have now taken the No 1 place for being the bottom of the pile in this uncaring shambles of a country that called itself Christian while their hierarchy of Priest's, Bishop's, & Cardinal's along with the State's officer's of the law at the time all the time & maybe even still (?) turned their ears & their eyes from the plea's of the brutalized children over decades of decadence & left them to cry eternal tears before they die...& a lot of these are unfortunately still alive & suffering.
No, this is not a good time to live in a country that's still full of greed & that's still full of need...& to make it stranger still the two sit side by side because no-one care's a "Hoot" & the most polluted of government's do not care one bit for their MAJOR part in this past & present violation of "Human Right's" negligence on the poor & violation on the children from back to the time of God knows when (?) & the Church still mull over it all & smile & say wait a minute we didn't mean any of it, even though even the Pope knew all of what was going on from the start to the finish whenever that will be (?) of the weakest of their citizen's. What a cruel waste & treatment of the weakest of this country’s society...& regards the church & state, what a "Shower"!
#6
Edna commented, on December 20, 2009 at 2:06 p.m.:
The Irish are just a bunch of low-class trash really. They won the lotto and then they blew it on property, booze and tanning beds. Gogarty is a good ambassador for the Ireland of today.
#7
Tony commented, on December 20, 2009 at 8:21 p.m.:
Edna, nice to hear that we're so highly thought of, I would say that either you're eamon dunphy on disguise or you're from a country with a chip on it's shoulder the size of the Uk. Unfortunately, I can't agree with your tarred brush, we are a very close knit nation and just because some politician decides that another politician has had a go at him and responds in the wrong manner does not mean you're free to pour tar on us all. Of course you can look at the record of the heckler (emmet staff) and see what he's been up to before now and it won't take us away from your point. Sad that you think we're all the same as you though...
#8
Edna commented, on December 21, 2009 at 1:08 a.m.:
No Tony, I'm not in the UK. I'm an Irish woman who emigrated in 1987, to France & England before landing in the USA in 1998. I had hoped to return home to Ireland, but you've all made rather a botch of it. I'll wave at you during my flights from New York to Paris. I promise.
#9
phil commented, on December 21, 2009 at 11:37 a.m.:
The view from'across the pond'is of a nasty little corrupt and deceitful people-despite the recent illusion of wealth-still bound by ideas pertaining to the 19th century.
Where as before most Americans were somewhat bemused at the culture of the Irish,Thank God we have lost our silly romantic notions of a friendly little pixie nation filled with pretty thatched cottages dotted along the horizons of emerald green fields.
It is embarrasing and humiliating these days to have any kind of connection with this land and its people,the damage that has been done to your reputation over the last 10 years is irreparable.
#10
joe commented, on December 21, 2009 at 2:52 p.m.:
Tony/Edna, I left Ireland 20 years ago and was delighted when Ireland finally seemed to be getting it's act together. No more forced emigration. I actually believed Ireland had left it's past behind. Sadly that is not the case. It is the same old country with the same old problems. Grown men and women passing the buck to the next generation - how noble. Burying their heads in the sand - electing the same jackass TDs for no other reason than they themselves will be looked after. A country with no heroes.
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Has everyone forgotten that a short time ago Brian Cowan had to apologise to the Dail for using the term f*****s in his aside to Mary Coughlan that was picked up by the microphones.