Audio: Mick Wallace in hot water over ‘Miss Piggy’ Dáil gaffe

Colourful independent TD Mick Wallace was caught red handed in the Dáil last night after he was heard on tape labelling Fine Gael backbencher Mary Mitchell O’Connor as ‘Miss Piggy’.

Wallace was heard making the comments to fellow independents Shane Ross and Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan on an open microphone yesterday evening in a clip that was later uploaded to current affairs blog Maman Poulet. (Skip to 1.10 and turn it up good and loud)

The Miss Piggy reference is in relation to O’Connor’s apparent fondness for garish pink outfits, a particularly relevant concern given the debate over the introduction of a dress code into the Dáil.

The proposed introduction of the dress code has angered many in Leinster house, including Flanagan and Wallace, whose attire in parliament veers towards the casual variety.

Once Wallace, who regularly appears in public in a raggedy pink polo shirt, mentions ‘Miss Piggy, the three deputies launch into a conversation about O’Connor, with Flanagan bringing up the embarrassing incident where she drove down a plinth in the Dáil and admitting that he couldn’t remember her name on Tonight with Vincent Browne.

The conversation between the three deputies proceeded as follows:

Mick Wallace “…Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today.”

Shane Ross: “Who’s that?”

Wallace: “Ms Piggy has toned it down a bit.”

Ming Flanagan: “That Mary Mitchell O’Connor one. I couldn’t remember her name on Vincent Browne.”

Ross: “Was she on with you?”

Ming: “No (indecipherable)…the one who drove off the plinth. They’d want to ban her wearing pink.”

Ross: “Ha Ha Ha. Oh yeah, that’s right. She’s nothing sensational [today] she normally wears the most garish colours (trails off)…”

Contacted by The Star last night, O’Connor was furious, saying: “The cheek of them,” and added: “I have more to be thinking about than that”.

Wallace could not be contacted, but Flanagan said of the issue: “No comment. They’re nothing to do with me,” but added: “If they’re going to ban men from wearing pink, then surely they’ll have to ban women from wearing pink.”

Wallace is not the first member of government to be publicly caught off guard in Leinster House.

Former Taoiseach Brian Cowen was infamously heard saying: “We need to get a handle on this, will you ring those fuckers,” in relation to the National Consumer Agency (NCA) to Tánaiste Mary Coughlan in 2008.