F-bomb proves costly for MGQ!
Former Galway West TD Máire Geoghegan Quinn has revealed how she was criticised by her Fianna Fáil colleague, Padraig Flynn, for unladylike behaviour not long after she was first elected to the Dáil.
It was her use of ‘the F-word’, as she calls it, that caught the ear of her west of Ireland colleague – who walked over to tell her that he was going to charge her fifty pence every time he heard her use the word after that.
Interviewed by RTÉ’s Political Correspondent Martina Fitzgerald for her new book Madam Politician, Mrs Geoghegan Quinn recalled the occasion, following the 1977 general election, when she was socialising with some Fianna Fáil colleagues when: ‘I remember using the ‘F-word’ in the restaurant or in the bar’.
“That came about because I was in company of people who were using it in the conversation. And Pee Flynn, of all people [said] “Now, Madam”, he said to me, looking across at me, “I’m going to charge you 50 pence every time you use the ‘F word’ in future.” Jesus, by the end of the first week he had a pile in the jar, and he did, he followed through on it. And it cured me,” she said.
Máire Geoghegan Quinn is one of 17 former female government ministers and two former female Presidents of Ireland interviewed by Martina Fitzgerald for Madam Politician, which is published this week.
In the book, the 19 women collectively reveal for the first time the challenges and triumphs of getting to the top table of Irish political life.
“As a female political correspondent working in Leinster House over the last few years, I’ve been very conscious that there are very few women in national politics,” said Martina.
“In writing this book I set out to explore issues such as the enduring focus on women’s appearance, overcoming prejudice and sexism and juggling a career and family life,” she added.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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