{"id":548816,"date":"2026-07-14T07:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548816\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T07:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T07:35:14","slug":"mary-lou-mcdonald-declines-to-withdraw-dail-remark-about-taoiseach-being-a-tosser-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548816\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Lou McDonald declines to withdraw D\u00e1il remark about Taoiseach being a \u2018tosser\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald<\/a> says she has no plans to withdraw her description of Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin as a \u201ctosser\u201d<\/a> in the D\u00e1il chamber last week.<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s comment, after bad-tempered exchanges with the Taoiseach on Wednesday, was heard by the D\u00e1il reporters who sit in the chamber and produce the official transcript of proceedings in the House. <\/p>\n

McDonald was questioning the Taoiseach about the total cost of the Dublin MetroLink project. <\/p>\n

When the Taoiseach said that the Minister for Transport was \u201cnot in a position to put a definitive price tag on it right now\u201d, McDonald interjected: \u201cThat is my point.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach <\/a>continued that the \u201cfocus is on getting the metro built. Again, I presume that is something the Deputy supports.\u201d<\/p>\n

At which point McDonald <\/a>remarked: \u201cJesus, he really is a tosser.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remark is not audible on the video of the sitting, but was picked up by reporters and forms part of the official record.<\/p>\n

Asked if she would withdraw her comments, a spokesman for McDonald said she would not. Nor is the Taoiseach expected to raise the issue with the Ceann Comhairle when the D\u00e1il <\/a>meets on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

McDonald\u2019s insult is part of a record of fiery exchanges between the Taoiseach and the Sinn F\u00e9in leader inside the D\u00e1il and outside<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"Sinn F\u00e9in and Government on completely different timetables for Irish unity<\/p>\n

As the leader of the main Opposition party, McDonald has primacy in the D\u00e1il in questioning the Taoiseach but their exchanges are often sour and personalised. <\/p>\n

Martin was also subjected to fierce criticism by Sinn F\u00e9in TDs last week on the party\u2019s united Ireland position, <\/a>with many speakers in the D\u00e1il debate seeming to hold Martin personally responsible for the absence of a unity referendum. <\/p>\n

The Ceann Comhairle maintains a list of expressions and insults that may not be used in the chamber, though \u201ctosser\u201d is not yet among them.<\/p>\n

Oireachtas records show the word has been used 25 times, in various senses, in D\u00e1il debates over the years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald says she has no plans to withdraw her description of Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,7038],"class_list":["post-548816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548816","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=548816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}