Thursday, May 27, 2010

Foul-mouthed Irish MP escapes punishment

An MP who shouted "f*** you" at an opposition politician in the Irish parliament will not face punishment because of a precedent set in 1947.

Paul Gogarty of the Green Party, which forms part of the ruling coalition, swore twice during a rant in the lower house of parliament, the Dail, last December.

He apologised immediately for his "unparliamentary language".

Video contains unparliamentary language.


The committee which oversees behaviour in parliament said it found Mr Gogarty's comments were "contempt of an aggravated nature".

"It considers them to have been ill-judged, unwarranted, to have reflected extremely badly on the member in question ... and to have brought the House into disrepute," it said.

But it also found that a similar incident in 1947 was resolved after those involved apologised and continued "to appear valid and reasonable". The committee decided to take the same course of action.

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