Norris withdraws Doherty remarks
Former presidential candidate Senator David Norris has withdrawn remarks he made during a Seanad debate which were branded sexist.
The gay and human rights campaigner, who accused Fine Gael TD Regina Doherty of “talking through her fanny” about the abolition of the upper house, said his language was “intemperate”.
“I regret any offence, but the thing I regret most is this could be used in this campaign as a diversion,” Mr Norris said.
The independent senator, who recently revealed he is being treated for cancer, said he wished to put his remarks in context, explaining that he was “incandescent with rage” at the time.
“I accept that my language was intemperate,” he said in a personal address in the upper house this morning.
“Had I been called for an explanation at the time, I would have given one.”
Mr Norris was heavily criticised after he made a play on the Vagina Monologues to attack Ms Doherty’s calls for the abolition of the Seanad, saying he should not have to listen to the “Regina monologue”.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin criticised Mr Norris's comments, saying that at no point should serious matters under debate be made personal.
“In advance of the election, both parties looked at the case for a bi-cameral system or a uni-cameral system in the Programme for Government and agreed that these matters should be put to the people,” Mr Howlin said.
“I expect there will be a robust debate about that, but it shouldn’t be one that degenerates into any personal animosity or personal commentary.”
Ms Doherty, who was yesterday appointed Fine Gael’s deputy director of elections for the Seanad abolition referendum, is to lodge a formal complaint against Mr Norris.
The National Women’s Council of Ireland has backed her decision and called for a full investigation.
Director Orla O’Connor described Mr Norris’s comments as “sexist, personalised and completely unacceptable”.
Co-ordinator of the council’s Women in Politics project Eoin Murray said the country’s political culture needs a significant overhaul, creating a “women-friendly” Oireachtas to replace the current “old boys’ club”.
“Our Parliament should be a leading example for debate,” Mr Murray added.
“Our politicians – women and men – do good work. Such incidents undermine this work and make politics a less attractive career for women.”
Mr Norris made his remarks yesterday following an announcement from Fine Gael’s director of elections, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton, that scrapping the upper house would save €20m a year.
Mr Bruton, who will lead the campaign for the abolition of the Seanad in the autumn referendum, said it would reduce the number of politicians by 30% and bring Ireland in line with other small progressive democracies like Sweden and Denmark.
“I was simply furious, having just possessed a copy of this mendacious document in which those of us, after 30 years of campaigning for Seanad reform were smeared in the nastiest way,” Mr Norris said of the minister’s announcement.
“This is going to be a very, very dirty campaign and it comes from the top, and I was incandescent with rage.”
