FURORE AT FAT LADY SINGS IS ‘PC GONE MAD’ SAYS TD
TIPPERARY TD Mattie McGrath has defended comments he made about abortion committee chair Catherine Noone saying his term was ‘colloquial’ and the negative reaction is ‘PC gone mad’.
But two Fine Gael election candidates in the county have hit out at Mr McGrath’s comments as ‘childish’ and ‘foolish’.
At a press call on Wednesday, he said: ‘The fat lady hasn’t sang here yet and I’m not talking about the chairperson of the committee or anybody like that.’
He hastily added: ‘Best not to say it like that.’ He then said: ‘I’m just saying that as an old saying. It’s up to the electorate.’
He later called Ms Noone to apologise but defended his comments yesterday on Tipp FM and labelled the media ‘99% biased’.
He said his previous question was from a journalist asking him whether he still believed Ms Noone and the committee were biased, and was then asked what happens next, to which he replied it’s not over ‘until the fat lady sings’.
He told Tipp FM: ‘I use that often, we’ve gone so PC here now it is crazy. Out of the goodness of my heart in order not to have any undermining of her I said, “I am not speaking about her”. They put two and two together and got ten.’
Mr McGrath said he rang Ms Noone to reassure her there was no malice and she thanked him.
However, Fine Gael election candidates Mary Newman and Councillor Mary Hanna Hourigan were not convinced.
Ms Newman said: ‘The comment was cruel and disrespectful.’