Foul-mouthed Gogarty saved by 1947 Dáil ‘fracas’
Mr Gogarty made headline news last December after turning to Labour TD Emmet Stagg in the Dáil and shouting: “Fuck you Deputy Stagg. Fuck you.”
Although Mr Gogarty immediately apologised, several TDs felt he should have been suspended from the House, and the Dáil Committee on Procedure and Privileges – which oversees conduct in the parliament – launched an investigation.
As part of its investigation, the committee looked back at similar incidents in the Dáil’s history and found a precedent had been set following a “fracas” between two TDs in April 1947.
On that occasion, Fine Gael TD James Coburn criticised the then taoiseach Éamon de Valera as well as a Fianna Fáil TD, Michael J Kennedy, in the Dáil. When Mr Kennedy objected to the comments, Mr Coburn challenged him to a fight.
The TDs went outside and a “fracas” ensued – but both men apologised to the Dáil later that same day.
As a result, the then Committee on Procedure and Privileges recommended that the Dáil accept their apologies and regard the incident closed.
Because of that precedent, the modern-day committee has similarly decided that no sanction should be taken against Mr Gogarty because he, too, apologised to the Dáil following his outburst.
However, the committee has made clear its displeasure with his conduct, writing to Mr Gogarty about the incident. In its report, the committee said it considered his outburst to have been “ill-judged, unwarranted, to have reflected extremely badly on the member in question, to have given rise to further disorder and to have brought the House into disrepute”.
In the 1947 incident, James Coburn challenged Mr Kennedy to “come outside and object to me now – come on”.
