Mary O'Rourke

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CGorman

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Mary O'Rourke has just got the FF nomination in Longford/Westmeath by a very narrow margin. I personally can't stand the women, but this time she really stunned me... she's after getting nominated by such a slim margin, head's up to do her speech and said "worked like blacks to...."

This women really knows how to shoot herself in the foot!
 
..in fairness to her, she probably didn't expect to win the nomination and was high as a kite-and it was actually meant as a compliment! d
 
Well I hope Connor is proud of his aunt, someone who has done far more work for immigrant rights in this country than those who like to jump on verbal slipups. The kebab remark was a crap attempt at humour not a racial slur, you may as well complain about the Simpsons referring to drinking and fighting on St. Patricks Day.
I'd rather have politicians like Mary O'Rourke or Michael McDowell who say what they believe rather than the mealy mouthed td's trying to please all of the people all of the time epitomised by our great socialist leader. I'd rather know what people stand for, that way you know what you're getting and can vote against if you disagree and we might just end up with a dail that reflects the views of the nation.
 
In my opinion both comments were more stupid/ill judged than motivated by any sort of deep seated racism. In both cases an apology should suffice and everybody should move on. However I suspect that some people will make a mountain out of this particular molehill and thus undermine efforts to weed out real racism and prejudice in this country.
 
I absolutely agree with Clubman. I dont think for an instant that she meant anything insulting by what she said. She said it without thinking. The term is an old one and one that used to be used quite commonly in Ireland. A simple apology should suffice and let's leave it at that.
 
I recall Ron Atkinson saying something along the same lines. calling Desaily a "black bastard" when he thought his mike was off.
Even though everyone agreed that the big man wasn't a racist he still had to resign his cushy job. And I would have thought that the standards applied to our public representatives should be higher and they should pay a similar price.
Just because you didn't mean something to happen doesn't mean you can ignore the consequences of that event happening.
 
There's a big difference between calling somebody a "black bastard" and using the phrase "working like blacks" in my opinion. Both may be offensive, the former more than the latter, but in this particular case I don't think that anything more than an acknowledgement that this is the case and an apology is necessary. I'm sure that others might have a different opinion and want a head to roll though.
 
Legendd99, surely that's the kind of attitude that sees us having media friendly politicians who can only spout soundbites without actually doing anything.
Football commentators are two a penny but politicians who actually do things seem to be too rare an entity to have them ditched just because they say something that can be wrongly construed.
In fact, did Atkinson not use the 'n' word which, although I felt was meant to simply add malice to the insult not because he is a racist, did justify his dismissal to me. Was Atkinson not simply using an extreme insult to describe someone he clearly didn't like. I know that I've used insults based on people's features (height, weight, skin condition) in the past (and will in the future) without it meaning that I am prejudiced against people who are tall/short/fat/spotty. Either way, why is it wrong to append black/jewish/arab to an insult, if someone called me a white/irish/catholic/dublin w***er it would be the w***er bit that would actually insult me.
 
She seemed genuinley shocked when her attention was drawn to the remark after her speech.
 
Unfortunately, I have to admit that about 5 years ago, I made exactly the same comment as Mary O'Rourke in a conversation amongst black people. I learned a very had lesson then, and am still learning it now.

I can tell you that all the attempts to brush this comment off, to try to lessen what was said, and to try to assail those who pick up on the comment as being over the top politically correct, is extremely unfortunate and is enormously damaging to any credibility we as an Irish nation may be trying to build as being a multi-cultural nation.

It doesn't matter where the comment originates within our Irish psyche, or what state of mind a future government minister was in when she said it, it is an absolutely racist comment and should have no place in Irish society of today.

I lost 3 very good friends (1 black and 2 white) because of my comments. They didn't care how or why I came to make the comment, only that it was wrong, and racist, and showed a lack of awareness at the time on my part in how I was thinking.

Mary O'Rourke should not be allowed get away with making this comment. An apology is not enough. She must stand down because of it, and as a nation we should be showing our displeasure of a potential leader making such comments by calling for her to stand down at every possible opportunity, and not excusing the comments as people are doing here.
 
For the record my comment above was made in jest and I totally agree with Clubmans comments - I don't believe for a minute that O Rourke or Lenihan are in any way racist. I have often heard older people in particular ( including my mother ) make the same reference to people who have worked hard - it's was used as more of an expression than anything else, the " black" word had no significance in itself. Ron Atkinson on the other hand referred to Desailly as a ""a f***ing lazy n*****". Personally I would view that comment a lot differently than either Lenihans or O Rourkes and to want /expect O Rourke to stand down because of it is farcical imo.
 
Slightly off topic, but where I'm from in Kerry referring to someone as black means they are unforgiving and set in their ways. So one of my grandfathers was always referred to as black, or as a 'black bastard'. My father still uses it in connection with one of my brothers, who is of a similar disposition- i.e., you know Joe, he's black.

I wonder what Mary O'Rourke meant by her remark, and what the connotations are. Is it a reference to indentured slavery?
 
Some friends you had there ronan, it sounds like the usual story, tolerance is expected on the side of the Irish indigenous population but none is forthcoming on the other side.
Its like those who complain about Christian symbolism at Christmas and demand that cribs be removed from hospitals. my opinion is that being multi cultural should be about mutual understanding on both sides and the inclusion of all. Don't remove cribs, but do display Hanukkah candlesticks, do teach our children about christian religion, but if there are other denominations (or even if there aren't) teach them about passover, ramadan etc.
What's next should we stop having a parade to celebrate the patron christian saint of Ireland.
It'll take time for us to come to grips with new societal influences stemming from immigration and young people probably wouldn't use a phrase like "work like a black" but lack of tolerance on both sides on ingrains differences.
 
icantbelieve said:
Some friends you had there ronan, it sounds like the usual story, tolerance is expected on the side of the Irish indigenous population but none is forthcoming on the other side.
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Not really. And this wasn't in Ireland. It was in a country that none of us were actually from, and all were just working as peers and ex-pats.

It did works both way. As was said elsewhere, if comments were made regarding my race/colour/religion, I'd have been equally disturbed by such comments. Thing was, they didn't make any comments about me. I was in the wrong and let myself and my country down. Just like Mary O'Rourke has.

icantbelieve said:
Its like those who complain about Christian symbolism at Christmas and demand that cribs be removed from hospitals.
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I don't think these situations are alike.

The whole religious symbols thing is a "live and let live" situation, and asking people to change how they live is one thing, and not acceptable.

Making improper comments regarding the race/culture of others isn't acceptable on anyones part.
 
Vanilla said:
I wonder what Mary O'Rourke meant by her remark, and what the connotations are. Is it a reference to indentured slavery?
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Useless piece of information #4788234:
The expression 'trabajar como un negro' - 'work like a black' dates back to the Atlantic slave trade, which flourished under the reign of Philip II of Spain, in the late C16.

(Curiously, in French, the equivalent expression is 'travailler comme un turc' — not too far removed from 'work like a Trojan', geographically speaking, but probably more to do with the waves of Turkish migrant workers of the 1960s/1970s than with their Homeric forebears...)

I agree that Mary O'Rourke is guilty of no more than letting slip a common expression from less politically correct times, one which — while racist in origin — long ago came simply to mean 'to work very hard and/or for little reward'. But someone as smart as her should apologise quickly. There'd be uproar if an English politician (or any other) talked about Micks or Paddies...
 
DrMoriarty said:
There'd be uproar if an English politician (or any other) talked about Micks or Paddies...
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If it was an English politician, making comments such as this about any race, they'd have resigned by now.

We let our politicians (or potential politician in this case) away with far too much.
 
Given that it is a reference therefore to slavery, which is part of the history of black people, is it in fact an insult? Don't want to stir it up now, I am genuinely wondering. I suppose its an insult because it is in the present tense rather than the past tense. Would it be like saying as hungry as the Irish?
 
if say a President of a Students Union in a third level college had said it they'd have been made resign either way by now. Bear in mind that this comment was made not by an election canidate, but by the leader of the the Higher House of Representatives of this state.
Can you honestly imagine the leader of the british house of lords (upon which the seanad is losely based) being allowed to get away with a comment along the lines of "jaysus, fair play, ye worked as hard as those irish paddies"
Let her stand for election by all means....but let her not represent me as the leader of the higher house of this country.
 
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