Mick Wallace apologises for “Miss Piggy” comment
Independent TD Mick Wallace has apologised for derogatory comments he made in the Dáil about Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor, while she just wants the issue to be forgotten.
Speaking on RTE’s John Murray Show this morning, Wallace said he was out of order for referring to the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown TD as “Miss Piggy”.
The comments were caught on microphone and released to the public this morning. During the audio recording, Wallace can be heard calling Mitchell O’Connor, “Miss Piggy”, during a conversation with fellow Independent TDs Shane Ross and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan.
Wallace exonerated the other two TDs, stating they had “nothing to do with it”.
On this morning’s show, the Wexford politician said it was clearly in bad taste and that had no right to be passing comment like that.
The comments came following the Government’s decision to implement a dress code for the Dáil, which Flanagan and Ross opposed. They argued that politicians’ dress should not matter as there are larger issue to be concerned with.
Here’s the audio clip, thanks to the Maman Poulet blog, and a transcript thanks to broadsheet.ie.
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)…”
Speaking on Today FM this morning, Mitchell O’Connor said she was “over it” and would not hold a grudge against the men despite being hurt and upset.
She also said that she did not want the issue mentioned on the Dáil floor as she wants the House to get on with the business of the day.
“There’s way more important things than Mary Mitchell O’Connor,” she told Ray D’arcy.