{"id":405461,"date":"2026-04-18T17:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/405461\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T17:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T17:39:08","slug":"passion-not-misogyny-was-why-independent-ireland-tds-shouted-at-women-ministers-party-says-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/405461\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Passion\u2019 not \u2018misogyny\u2019 was why Independent Ireland TDs shouted at women Ministers, party says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent Ireland<\/a> has said \u201cpassion\u201d, not \u201cmisogyny\u201d, was to blame for the party\u2019s TDs shouting at women Ministers during the Government confidence motion in the D\u00e1il this week.<\/p>\n

Party leader Michael Collins also blamed shortcomings in D\u00e1il procedure for the jeering and heckling, which was sharply criticised by Government ministers and some Opposition parties. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf a Minister gets up and tells a lie, I have no [means] to get up and say, \u2018That is incorrect\u2019 and correct it,\u201d Cork South-West TD Collins said at the party\u2019s convention in Galway on Saturday. \u201cSo the only thing we can do is shout back, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Social Democrats<\/a> lodged a complaint with Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy about the behaviour of Independent Ireland representatives during Tuesday\u2019s D\u00e1il debate. <\/p>\n

Transport Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien<\/a> later told the D\u00e1il the behaviour was \u201cmisogynistic, nasty and vicious\u201d.<\/p>\n

Collins denied women Ministers were targeted, insisting: \u201cWe were passionate with everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters at the Galmont Hotel in Galway<\/a>, TD Ken O\u2019Flynn said: \u201cI\u2019m delighted that the Minister and the Soc Dems have realised what a woman actually is, because for a long time they were very confused about that issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cork North-Central TD insisted there was \u201cnot one misogynist inside in our party\u201d.<\/p>\n

All four Independent Ireland TDs are men, but \u201cwe have some fantastic lady candidates and brilliant female minds\u201d, O\u2019Flynn said. <\/p>\n

South Dublin<\/a> County Councillor Linda de Courcy said: \u201cAs a woman, I can concur there are no misogynists in this party.\u201d <\/p>\n

Party member and Midlands-North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly<\/a> said his false claim in the European Parliament last week \u2013 that Defence Forces\u2019 tanks had been deployed on the streets of Irish cities to quell fuel protests \u2013 was \u201cabsolutely not\u201d inflammatory. <\/p>\n

The former RT\u00c9 Midlands correspondent said: \u201cI don\u2019t accept any criticism\u201d. He said he corrected the \u201cmistake\u201d within hours. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy effect? I\u2019d love to think I had the ability to bring people on to the streets from my seat in Brussels. That\u2019s not the case. It was ridiculous. When this Government makes a mistake, another opening of the [national] children\u2019s hospital is missed, another child goes without care, that\u2019s what you call a mistake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Limerick<\/a> County TD Richard O\u2019Donoghue said Independent Ireland\u2019s popularity had spiked due to its solidarity with fuel protesters. <\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment Ministers, junior ministers, backbenchers, you name it, their phones were all off, but Independent Ireland turned up to negotiate,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe media told the true story, and what did they get? They said they were going to have an investigation into the media for telling a true story,\u201d he also said, referring to Communications Minister Patrick O\u2019Donovan\u2019s call for Coimisi\u00fan na Mean to investigate coverage of the protests. Mr O\u2019Donovan has since stepped back from his request.<\/p>\n

Collins said membership of Independent Ireland had increased by up 40 per cent in the past fortnight, although he did not provide the number of new joiners. <\/p>\n

He also suggested he had been contacted by more than 10 elected representatives from Fine Gael<\/a> and Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> who were interested in joining the party. <\/p>\n

Collins played down the role of the far right in the fuel protests<\/a>. He said, \u201cthere will always be an odd thug here and there\u201d, but they were \u201ctold to go home\u201d by the majority of protesters. <\/p>\n

Asked whether there would be more protests and blockades if fuel prices spiked again, Galway County Councillor Noel Thomas, the party\u2019s Galway West byelection candidate, said: \u201cI can\u2019t answer that to be honest with you. People are emotive and hurt by what\u2019s going on\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent Ireland has said \u201cpassion\u201d, not \u201cmisogyny\u201d, was to blame for the party\u2019s TDs shouting at women Ministers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[42064,15910,615,895,3775,171749,4500,61,25919,60,1396,43,1419],"class_list":{"0":"post-405461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ciaran-mullooly","9":"tag-darragh-o-brien","10":"tag-dublin","11":"tag-fianna-fail","12":"tag-fine-gael","13":"tag-fuel-protests","14":"tag-galway","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-independent-ireland","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-limerick","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-social-democrats"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}