Mary O Rourke has passed away.

Pauliedragon

As above Mary O Rourke has passed away. The telecom eireann decisions will be her legacy.

https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2024/1003/1473384-mary-orourke/

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058371827/mary-o-rourke-has-passed-away

it’s her fault Tommy tierenan has no phones at his gigs?

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058371827/mary-o-rourke-has-passed-away

So, a former TD has died and your response is to take shots at her via lazily dumping a link? Pretty foul IMO.

I'd no idea who she was, honestly. RIP.

P.S. Phone-free gigs sound good.

Montage of Feck

The funeral is to be phone free apparently. But anyway, she came across as a quite a character in the beige world of Irish politics.

Rows Grower

I never voted Fianna Fáil in my life and probably never will but have the upmost respect for Mary O Rourke.

She was a lady that excelled in a male dominated sphere and gave encouragement to other ladies to have the courage to do so.

She was a patriot and may she rest in peace.

joeymcg

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680935#Comment_122680935

It's utmost

Not upmost

Silentcorner

She was the only Government Minister that admitted meeting Tom Gilmartin in Government buildings, after a Cabinet meeting. IT was at this meeting (if i recall correctly) that Gilmartin maintains he was approached by a strange man and given a slip of paper with a bank account number on it and a demand for a massive amount of cash…all the other Ministers who were there "couldn't recall" meeting him…I'll remember her for that…

I think history will be kind to her, she is sorely missed, god can only imagine what she made of the current Cabinet. Compare her to any Govt Minister today and you'll see how far we have fallen…

JP Liz V1

RIP

I think she was the first female politician TD, I heard of or took interest in

Was she known as Mammy O Rourke, related to the Linehans?

Charlo30

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680948#Comment_122680948

The sister to Brian Linehan senior.

TheValeyard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680941#Comment_122680941

Get out.

Pauliedragon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680896#Comment_122680896

I posted the wrong link it was an honest mistake. I'm not that nasty.

Bobson Dugnutt

She was a bit of a trailblazer in her time. Reminds me of Heather Humphries in some ways. Straight talking and no nonsense.
I always enjoyed her war stories and anecdotes when she was on the radio after she retired.

XLR 8

A genuinely decent woman who served our country well. RIP Mary O' Rourke.

whisky_galore

"Worked like blacks".

HeidiHeidi

An absolute breath of fresh air in the boring, ever increasingly PC world of politics - and as others have said a bit of a trailblazer in a male-dominated world.

She was never boring, and that's a huge compliment.

RIP

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680945#Comment_122680945

exactly what I was thinking earlier. She was a bit of a trailblazer. Compare her to Helen McEntee, Norma Foley, Catherine Martin, they are in the halfpenny place. Politics wasn't woke back then , it wasn't playing to the crowds, it wasn't about promising everything and delivering nothing, it certainly wasn't about throwing money about like confetti in order to get re-elected.

Social media has a lot to answer for as now we have a TikTok Taoiseach, an absentee Tanaiste who prefers World politics to Ireland, and a completely brain dead Minister for Justice who is behind on her game , all more interested in PR and image than actually doing anything.

Very sad today to hear Mary O Rouke had died. RIP

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122681062#Comment_122681062

Phrases like that are part of our working class heritage.

Not politically correct these days but totally understood by everyone with an interest in history and progression.

silliussoddius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122681062#Comment_122681062

For FF.

elperello

Condolences to family and friends.

Rest in Peace.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680948#Comment_122680948

She was .

RIP .

I liked her but had no interest in her politics just her candour and wit.

Remember her calling out loudly anyone in charge , former taoisí or ministers etc who messed with her beloved brother Brian , nephews or any of the Lenihan family . Not afraid to say what she thought unlike some who oil their way around the Dáil . In fact she was very quick to express her views and had the ear of the media because she was widely suspected to be a regular leak about cabinet goings on !

Yes she was involved in the TE debacle. And other decisions which is why I could not countenance her or her party FF and those leaders to whom she was loyal Haughty and Ahern .

But she was a character and a role model for a lot of Irish women at a time when most were not to the fore in public life .

Hopefully there will be " a leithéid arís ann " or Irish politics will be the worse for it .

silverharp

was she responsible for why there isnt a LUAS to the airport? didnt want to disrupt businesses in the city centre or some such

mohawk

Such a character. I really liked her. We don’t have politicians like her anymore.

RIP

batman75

I liked Mary O'Rourke. She was a character who spoke her mind. Today's vintage of politician is simply depressing. She was loved in Athlone and will be greatly missed. She had a long life and an interesting one. May she rest in peace.

10000maniacs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680896#Comment_122680896

A lot of people lost their shirts on those shares. She (& her party) set the price too high. But RIP.

10000maniacs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122681062#Comment_122681062

It's 18 years since she made that remark, but it has tarnished her final years as a TD.

plodder

She was a character. I liked the way she threw random details from her personal life into the discourse, eg when asked how did she hear about the chairman of CIE resigning, she answered "I was in the bath …"

Another time I remember her prefacing an answer to a question with "I was putting the chicken in the oven when I heard about that". A totally unnecessary detail but maybe which deflected attention in the direction she wanted.

buried

She was a brilliant public servant for her constituents in Athlone and its wider area. That town was a bottlenecked dive in the early 80's, then she got the bypass and the college development done and the place has totally thrived since. She brought real and long lasting infrastructure to her people and their future generations.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam

I.am.Putins.raging.bile.duct

Very witty woman ahead of her time. RIP.

Musicrules

She was anti abortion and all that to win votes, then changed to pro abortion and all that to win votes. You couldn't believe a word that came out of her mouth, just like her family.

RIP.

DeepBlue

it wasn't playing to the crowds, it wasn't about promising everything and delivering nothing, it certainly wasn't about throwing money about like confetti in order to get re-elected.

Ah c'mere, it most certainly was all of those things. And will ever be thus, alas.

RIP Mary O'Rourke. She was certainly colourful.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058371827/mary-o-rourke-has-passed-away

The telecom eireann decisions will be her legacy.

Hardly, not when there were many, many more memorable for all the wrong reasons moments like this one 😂

https://youtu.be/VXlbeuwFgwI?si=esRuqcj696XCdzCA

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122681079#Comment_122681079

Phrases like that are part of our working class heritage.

No they’re not, and O’ Rourke was as far from working class as it was possible to be then - she was of a political dynasty that was the Irish equivalent of the Kennedys. “Working class heritage”, if you mean being part of a Government that left the country with not a pot to piss in while politicians enjoyed lavish lifestyles akin to slave owners in the US, then yes, I suppose you could call that working class heritage 😒

TinyMuffin

Trying to eat my breakfast and she putting the image of her in the bath into my mind.

Paterson Jerins

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122680945#Comment_122680945

No. I completely disagree with your last paragraph. Fallen?

Do you not remember the shambles of the cabinet in 2009/10/11 under fianna fail leadership??? We fell hard then, very hard. Mary wasn't in the cabinet then, she was a td, but she was at the turn of the century during celtic tiger times. She was transport. And in her early career, she was education, and briefly health.

Does everyone forget how much of a mess the country was in at the end of the 00s?

In fairness to Mary, she ran in the 2011 election. Lost her seat like many in fianna fail. She got a 200k lump and 100k pension. Meanwhile decisions(cut backs) under austerity were being made, that still affect us all today. Does anyone remember the 2 budgets in 2009? Troika in 2010?

How have we fallen since she was last a td? Seems like we fell when she was a sitting td and her party was in power.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122681069#Comment_122681069

"it certainly wasn't about throwing money about like confetti in order to get re-elected"

🤣🤣🤣 We are talking about a Fianna Fail TD who worked for Charlie and Bertie FFS.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682162#Comment_122682162

I don't know anything about you Jack but I can tell you that I am from a working class family and that phrase would very often have been used to describe someone or a group of workers who were very committed to getting a job done no matter what obstacles were in the way.

In times gone by I've heard it used at Union-Management meetings where nobody took offence, I've heard it more recently being used to lavish praise on a sports team and everyone in the discussion agreed with the person that made the point.

You may have been one of those people who were somewhat sheltered from the working class elements of society when you were growing up but I was very much and still am in the thick of it and phrases like that are part of our heritage.

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682377#Comment_122682377

it’s interesting you defend use of a phrase but seem to do everything in your power not to utter it.

Go on, say it? If there’s nothing wrong with it, say it.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682279#Comment_122682279

and €9million on phone pouches, €336K on a bike shed, €1.4 million on a security and €2.4BILLION and counting on a children's hospital with our current Govt isn't doing exactly the same… i.e sheer arrogant waste of tax payers money on vanity projects?

I am not getting into it, RIP Mary O Rourke.

Beechwoodspark

She was from a very privileged, well off background but sort of hid that in her personal image she presented herself as a very ordinary “house wife” type character.

She was politically very close to both Charlie Haughey and Bertie Ahern - “show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are”

fergiesfolly

Met her once in her constituency office in the late 80s. There was very much the Mammy vibe going on. But also a don't f¥ck with Mammy vibe.

She was as staunch a FFer as it is possible to be, until how she saw how Charlie Haughy and the wider FF party treated her brother Brian.

I think there was a sea change in her outlook from then on and the party fell much further down her list of priorities than previously.

Formidable woman.

RIP

Beechwoodspark

just to say that “work” phrase she used is widely used in rural ireland uncontaminated by cancel culture or PC prudery!

I hear that phrase regularly in daily life, including in GAA sport settings and recently heard the local Church of Ireland vicar use the phrase at a charity event.

Nobody batted an eyelid, it’s a common ordinary phrase that has been used for years - When I hear it or use it I take it to mean “work extremely hard” as a compliment.

TinyMuffin

a teacher who became a td. Well I never.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682383#Comment_122682383

Are you feeling okay?

10000maniacs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682417#Comment_122682417

At the time (2006) her comment was indicative of how FF lost the run of themselves. Prominant FF members were being sent to jail, in the dock defending themselves at tribunals, claiming they won their extra cash on horses, some taking bungs in brown envelopes. Her boss claimed he didn't have a bank account. The following year, the Anglo Irish Bank scandal would be all over the news and FF would be in the thick of it, eventually ending up putting the country into receivership by the IMF, the ECB and the European Commission.

Shameful era in Irish politics to be fair. Caused so much pain and suffering.

Beechwoodspark

I’m fully aware of the controversies. As I said earlier, she was politically “up to her neck” with old school FF.

Bertie had her as his deputy leader - says a lot.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682377#Comment_122682377

I don't know anything about you Jack…

Well you got that much right at least. Y'know who also wasn't part of "your" culture? Mary O' Rourke.

Y'know who else wasn't part of "your" culture? Padraig "Try it some time when you've a couple of cars and three houses" Flynn, and Charlie "We are living way beyond our means" Haughey.

You didn't vote for them, but plenty in "your" culture did… those that were left anyway after plenty among "your" culture emigrated.

"Our" culture… nah man, we weren't all a bunch of racists who saw nothing wrong with being racist, whatever about the shower in power who didn't see anything wrong with it at all 🙄

Havenowt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122681998#Comment_122681998

It was a common term used by the normal working class people back before everyone had to be PC.

If we looked back at what every one said years ago, we would all be (Tarnished) by something.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122681998#Comment_122681998

What makes it funnier was her doubling down and spinning a BS story about it being about blacksmiths not black people.

A rich entitled woman in her own little privileged bubble esp in her latter years being courted by media for her folksy "wisdom". Saying she actually enjoyed covid isolation made my blood boil.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682619#Comment_122682619

Your starting to ramble and waffle now Jack.

I'm rather busy for the rest of the day so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you well and hope you have a wonderful weekend.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682658#Comment_122682658

Same to you RG, don't work too hard now! 😁

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682377#Comment_122682377

Please stop speaking for all of us.

Nobody under the age of 60 says that in my working class community except the odd woke obsessed edge lord who is trying to be controversial.

I have heard older people of all classes say it so it's not a working class culture thing. It's just an old phrase related to slavery that has rightly disappeared.

O'Rourke was a woman of a very different generation so I'm not holding it against her but people here saying it's still widespread are just straight up lying.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122682676#Comment_122682676

How you could interpret I am speaking on behalf of anyone else in that post is beyond me but you keep rocking on looking for internet confrontation breezy and I'm sure someone will oblige.

Toodle pip, old chap.