Editor a chauvinistic pig, says election candidate

THE only female election candidate in Wexford has called the editor of a local newspaper a “chauvinistic pig” on a radio station because of an article she claims is sexist.

Lisa McDonald, a Fianna Fáil candidate in the five-seat constituency, plans to report the editor of the Echo newspaper to the Equality Authority and wants Tom Mooney to apologise for sexist comments made about her following the birth of her son.

In a recent RedC poll carried out for the newspaper on the candidates running in the constituency, Ms McDonald received just 4% of the vote meaning she would not be elected.

The headline read: Only Female Candidate Needs to Get Going. And the article stated: “When Tony Dempsey made the shock announcement that he was walking away from politics after serving only one term, the consensus among the cynics was that Bertie Ahern wanted Lisa McDonald on the ticket. On the surface she has everything, young family, she’s a solicitor, good looking, from a well-known Wexford family and a member of Wexford County Council.”

The article went on to say: “With Dempsey sidelined, she had the Wexford District to herself, and all she had to do was convince those who got behind Dempsey to get behind her. Something in the intervening two years has gone wrong for McDonald perhaps it is the timing. She has just started a family, and the general election is weeks away.”

Ms McDonald said: “This (article) is some pathetic attempt to discriminate against me. I had trouble conceiving and I’m delighted with my baby. I’ve no qualms about going to the Equality Authority about this. It’s a positive thing to be a mother and woman. He (Mr Mooney) is a chauvinistic pig.”

She said out her private life should not be dragged into the public arena. However, Mr Mooney pointed out that a picture of her and baby son had already been in the paper soon after his birth which she allowed.

Mr Mooney defended the article and said he would stand over it.

He said: “It is a sad reflection on Mrs McDonald, who is a solicitor, to slander a journalist, on live radio using unparliamentary language, simply for defending his newspaper’s right to comment.

“There is not a scintilla of sexism in the article she refers to and her antipathy to the media is a smokescreen to deflect attention away from her poor performance in the survey.”