Senator 'unequivocally apologised' for describing Taoiseach as 'autistic'

Fine Gael Senator and General Election candidate Catherine Noone has “unequivocally apologised” after she said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is autistic.

Ms Noone was quoted while on a canvass in her constituency of Dublin Bay-North by a reporter the Times Ireland website.

Following publication of those comments, Ms Noone issued a terse two-line statement.

I unequivocally apologise and withdraw all of my remarks, as reported by theTimes.ie, which were completely unacceptable. My choice of language was inexcusable and wrong. I am truly sorry. I will not be making any further comment

-she said.

Ms Noone, a former running mate of Mr Varadkar in Dublin West, made the comments when asked by the reporter about Mr Varadkar's performance on last week's Virgin Media head-to-head debate with Micheal Martin.

Ms Noone said Mr Varadkar is a “very good politician” but conceded that he was “a bit wooden”.

“He’s autistic like, he’s on the spectrum, there’s no doubt about it. He’s uncomfortable socially and he doesn’t always get the inbetween bits,” she said.

“If I do say so, I am much more natural than he would be. I’ve been in rooms with him and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He’s naturally shy. But he’s actually a very good politician,” she said.

She told the Times: “He’s not into the nudge and wink, any of that craic. If you’re looking for him to appoint someone, and you say ‘they’re a Fianna Fáiler’, he’ll say, ‘I just want the best person for the job.’ I really respect that about him.”

The Times article stated that Ms Noone initially denied that she used the word “autistic”. When informed that the reporter had a recording, she said she did not mean the word literally.

“I didn’t mean it in the sense of the actual illness or anything. I just mean he can be a bit wooden and lacking in empathy,” she said. “I shouldn’t have even said it in that way.”

Ms Noone explained that her comment had been taken out of context. “Sometimes I say, ‘Oh God, I’m a bit special’ but I don’t mean it to be derogatory,” she said.

The deputy chief executive of the autism advocacy and support organisation As I Am, Fiona Ferris, has said that an apology from the Fine Gael candidate is not enough.

Ms Ferris described the comments as “quite shocking” and it was “completely unacceptable” to the autistic community for the word to be used as “a descriptor” or an adjective.

To have a diagnosis of autism came after an extensive clinical process and was very complex, she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Séan O’Rourke show.

Autism was not something that should be used to describe someone, she added.

Ms Ferris said she did not accept the apology issued by Ms Noone who should “fully educate herself what autism is.”

Autism is not an illness it is a condition, she explained. It was of great concern that a political representative thought it was acceptable to use the word as a descriptor.

Doing so was trying to justify the stereotype (of lacking empathy) of what it means to be autistic. This was a misconception as some people with autism were too empathetic and suffered great distress as a result.

Ms Ferris said that 100 per cent of the people As I Am represents would be very hurt by Ms Noone’s comments. “It is not acceptable to say that and it misrepresents the complexity of the condition.

“She needs to take action, she should be trying to take steps to educate herself.”

Ms Ferris called on the public to discuss the issue with candidates during the campaign, to question how their manifestoes plan to offer supports for autism.

Additional reporting by Vivienne Clarke

Just who is Senator Catherine Noone?

By Daniel McConnell, Political Editor

This is not the first time Catherine Noone has courted controversy during her nine years in national politics.

In 2015, she performed a speedy u-turn after she initially called for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to be banned, despite admitting she had never seen a fight. She later admitted, having faced some intense criticism, her comments were “ill informed”.

In 2016, she advocated for a ban on the building or the use of a premises as a chip shop within a 500m radius of schools. “We need to at least consider 'No Fry Zones', regulation of junk food vending machines, high calorie alerts on food and drink and minimum periods of PE in schools per week,” she said at the time amid some stinging criticism that she was being over the top.

In 2017, Noone's stand out role was when she was chair of the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment, which ultimately recommended that it be repealed.

She was subjected to intense criticism from pro-life members of the committee, Ronan Mullen and Mattie McGrath over how hearings were conducted.

Noone was then one of the primary members of Fine Gael who campaigned for a yes vote in the subsequent referendum of 2018, which ultimately lead to the repeal of the amendment in Ireland.

In 2018, she raised eyebrows when in 2018 she made of bullying and sexism against another party member at a meeting of the Fine Gael party. Ms Noone ultimately decided against making a formal complaint after initial inquiries by Fine Gael headquarters.

Noone (43) is a two-term Fine Gael senator on the Industrial and Commercial Panel.

Elected first to Dublin City Council in 2009, she was first elected to the Seanad in 2011. She stood unsuccessfully in the 2016 General Election campaign in Dublin West as Leo Varadkar's running mate, winning just 1,074 first-preference votes. She was eliminated on the second count.

A native of Clairemorris, Co Mayo, she is trained solicitor having studied Law and Italian at NUI Galway.