The Dáil is a cesspit of sexism
But the women who told me of their experiences fear that they will be punished if they speak out
LEO VARADKAR’S problem with women is intensifying. His Government was already a cold place for women but his empathy-free reaction to the plight of his female colleagues last week will damage him politically. The expectations of women when Mr Varadkar became Taoiseach were high. As a gay man who went public about his sexuality before the Marriage Equality Referendum in 2015, female politicians hoped he would have empathised with their experiences in the macho world of Leinster House.
This week, in the wake of ongoing allegations against former Gate Theatre director Michael Colgan, Mr Varadkar was asked if Leinster House was a safe environment in which to work. ‘In my experience, yes – but that’s not to say there isn’t a macho culture or behaviour, on occasion, in the Oireachtas,’ he told reporters. ‘There certainly is. I’ve spoken myself in the past about how very often, when you’re trying to conduct normal business in the Dáil, you’re shouted down and interrupted constantly. But that’s largely perpetrated by the men and women of Sinn Féin and the left, rather than men specifically.’
THIS prompted Sinn Féin to accuse him of trying to score political points amid a very serious societal debate. The party was right. Mr Varadkar’s supporters derided his predecessor Enda Kenny for his frequent baiting of Sinn Féin. Yet to segue into an attack on Sinn Féin when dealing with the sexism and harassment was a grave political mistake. A woman friend of Mr Varadkar’s interpreted this differently. She told me: ‘Leo lacks empathy, that’s his biggest failing as a politician and a person.’
Mr Varadkar spoke before it was made public that Minister John Halligan, had asked a woman at a job interview if she was married. Such a line of questioning is illegal. It was known in Government for some time that this ruling was coming. Sacking Mr Halligan would have been a display of class and authority.
Men have been caught red-handed behaving inappropriately in Leinster House before. In July 2011, Independent TDs Shane Ross, Mick Wallace and Luke Ming Flanagan were heard speaking on an open microphone after spotting Mary Mitchell O’Connor in the Dáil chamber. Mr Wallace, a 62-year-old man who dresses flamboyantly, hypocritically criticised her dress sense: ‘Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today.’ Mr Flanagan replied: ‘They’d want to ban her wearing pink.’ To which Mr Ross said: ‘She’s nothing sensational.’
At 2.40am on July 11, 2013 – during the Protection of Life Pregnancy Bill debate – after drinking the Dáil bar, Fine Gael TD Tom Barry manhandled colleague Áine Collins in the Dáil chamber. This incident was caught on camera. In response, the National Women’s Council described Irish politics as ‘a woman-unfriendly place’. How did Enda Kenny react? He refused to comment.
MR HALLIGAN was caught out when he expressed his sexist thoughts in an official forum. These incidents are the rare occasion where the sexist atmosphere in Leinster House has been exposed. I have behaved badly in football dressing rooms and in male-dominated bar rooms but journalists work under rules that force us to acknowledge Leinster House as a place of work.
For TDs there is no dress code, no prohibition on use of mobile phones in the Dáil chamber, no punishment for drunken horseplay or sexist insults in the chamber. It is a sanctuary for sexist politicians.
The political culture was established by men for men. So any woman who is selected for election, or is elected, is seen as an outsider. Women who are deemed to have got onto election tickets because of gender quotas are labelled arrivistes or worse. The fact that their presence ensures State funding for parties is ignored.
During the general election of 2016, women repeatedly told me of their experiences of verbal abuse and physical intimidation by men. There is seemingly a culture of low-level but insidious bullying. A woman TD told me this week that, for years, she was the only woman in her political group on a council. The seven men would go for a drink and she was never invited. She said many things are ‘mansplained’ for her in Leinster House and that men assume she is too stupid to understand complex issues.
Another female politician confided that she was bullied for years after rejecting the advances of an older male politician in a hotel room. I witnessed that same physically-imposing man approach a woman senator in the Dáil bar and kiss her forcefully on the lips. He then winked at me to illustrate it was part of the job.
He is known for groping a female staff member but the career of this man has progressed, while the careers of the three women I mentioned have regressed. Members of the current Government are aware of these incidents.
Women are fearful of going public on such issues. I asked two women TDs this week to speak out about their experiences of sexism and they laughed at this outlandish proposal.
Women who go public about sexism or gender-based bullying will be punished. There is always a request for resources or a convention or a ministerial post to be held over a woman’s head as a threat. The message is: ‘Keep your mouth shut or you’ll suffer.’ It is often delivered by aggressive men. Meanwhile, the emotional blackmail of party loyalty is always brought to play.
In June, the new Taoiseach was criticised for including just three FG women in his Cabinet and appointing two women to the junior ministerial ranks. Even though he had only 11 women to choose from, Ms Mitchell O’Connor and Marcella Corcoran Kennedy were demoted.
Mr Varadkar’s appointments came in the wake of a bruising leadership campaign with Simon Coveney. Mr Coveney’s most high-profile supporters were Minister Simon Harris, Minister Damien English, and TDs Kate O’Connell and Maria Bailey. Ms Bailey said she was surprised at the lack of inclusivity in Mr Varadkar’s Cabinet. She said his much-vaunted liberal values were ‘a perception – we knew that he wasn’t liberal, that’s a veneer’.
Mr Coveney, Mr Harris and Mr English kept their jobs. Ms Bailey and Ms O’Connell have been excluded. You have to believe something is lacking in Mr Varadkar’s political makeup if he cannot see the need to have two articulate young mothers in his Government.
Mr Varadkar’s team looks maledominated and that will damage him politically. Ultimately, Mr Varadkar and his tired-looking team, and sexist ministers such as Mr Halligan, will be made to pay in the only forum they care about – the ballot box.