TDs Apologize For "Miss Piggy" Jibe

Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell O'Connor has admitted she was hurt by comments made by a group of Independent TDs during which they described her as "Miss Piggy".

The remarks were made inside the Dail chamber by Independent TD Mick Wallace, who was unaware that his conversation with fellow Independent TDs Shane Ross and Luke "Ming" Flanagan was being picked up by a nearby microphone.

"Miss Piggy has toned it down today," joked Mick Wallace.

"Who's that?" asked Shane Ross.

"That Mary Mitchell O'Connor one," said Flanagan. "I couldn't remember her name on Vincent Browne... She's the one who drove off the plinth. They'd want to ban her wearing pink."

"Oh yeah, that's right," replied Ross. "She's nothing sensational. She normally wears the most garish colors."

The trio were unaware that their "laddish" comments were being broadcast around Leinster House.

"Yes, I was upset, as any woman would be," admitted Mary Mitchell O'Connor to reporters, "It says more about them than it does about me. I'm upset but I'm moving on."

Mick Wallace was mortified when he realized the comments had been widely heard.

He tried to phone her early in the morning next day to apologize and went on radio to atone.

"It's hard to defend the indefensible," he said, "I'm very sorry for the offence caused to Mary. I'm completely out of order. Ming and Shane Ross had nothing to do with it. It was completely my fault."

Shane Ross also contacted the Fine Gael TD to give her his apologies.

But Luke Flanagan initially refused to say sorry, claiming that he did not see what he had done that he need to apologize for.

He said new Dail guidelines were planning to ban Mick Wallace from wearing pink shirts and that was all he was referring to when he made the remarks.

He claimed that his remarks were mild compared to what the government were saying about his choice of clothes in the Dail.

"She should be apologizing to me," he told RTE radio, "She actually goes further and her party are going further."

But by the end of the week, peace had broken out.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor found a way to turn the enormous publicity surrounding the remark into something positive, and declared Friday to be Pink Friday in Leinster House.

She appealed to TDs to wear pink and raise funds for breast cancer charities and their Pink Ribbon campaign.

And Luke Flanagan appeared alongside her wearing a bright pink suit jacket, presumably as his way to make amends over the controversy.

"We've got a lot of publicity for a good cause," said Mary.

"Unfortunately my own mother died two years ago of breast cancer so anything I can do to highlight it..." said Deputy Flanagan.

The Independent TD for Roscommon, who is one of a handful of TDs known for not wearing suit jackets in Dail Eireann, was given the bright pink jacket by Ireland's best known tailor Louis Copeland.

"I like wearing suits," he joked, "I just don't like being told what to do. I wear what I want, and so does Mary, and fair play to her."

Meanwhile, the government has dropped plans to introduce strict new dress codes in the Dail because of the publicity it would give to the handful of Independents affected.

The code, which would have required men to wear a suit jacket when in the Chamber, could have seen Flanagan, Wallace or others carried out of the Dail if they refused to comply.

Members of the coalition are reluctant to cause a controversy over dress codes at a time of economic crisis.