MP's F-Bomb Prompts Banned Words Review

Words banned from the Irish parliament include rat, scumbag and buffoon - but not the F-word, as was discovered after an MP's expletive outburst


Paul Gogarty, TD, got hot under the collar during a budget debate in the Dail chamber on Friday.

Opposition Labour party member Emmet Stagg heckled the Green Party backbencher for "bleating and blathering".

The junior partner in the ruling coalition said he did not appreciate having his sincerity questioned.

"With all due respect, in the most unparliamentary language, fuck you Deputy Stagg. Fuck you," Mr Gogarty said.

He quickly added after the tantrum: "I apologise now for my use of unparliamentary language... I now withdraw it and apologise for it."

Following the rant it has emerged that the F-word is not one of the terms outlawed in the Irish parliament.

According to the Irish Times, taboo vocabulary includes: brat; buffoon; communist; coward; fascist; guttersnipe; hypocrite; rat; scumbag; scurrilous and yahoo.

The Republic is now set to review the list - and Mr Gogarty's expression of choice may be added to the 83-page document titled Salient Rulings Of The Chair.

These directives guide Irish MPs in such areas as personal remarks and political charges