The colourful jackets are well placed in the photograph. And to think that the FF front bench just walked up to the microphones like that is amazing. My maths is not so good but I would have thought that such a layout was not very likely. Perhaps this is what caused Pat Rabbitte to think that it was all stunt? And please look at the new FF front bench, some of them are not elected TDs. This from a party who it is said will not regain all of its seats in the next Dail. Perhaps ex-Minister Martin did say, to some of these fine looking men and women, “would you ever mind coming up for the photograph, it’s only for four weeks.”

Doesn’t seem sexist to me?? I’d say it was a tactical move by ff indeed. Their % of female candidates is appalling and although labour still have room for improvement their % of female candidates is approximately 10% higher than ff. In my opinion if any party as a whole is sexist it’s ff and the female members of ff are fooling themselves by pretending otherwise

Lame tactics from FF if you ask me, nothing more, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from a demoralised party!

It’s great seeing more women in politics, however I do think Fianna Fail are playing a game here. Unfortunately somebody had to react to it, which is exactly what they wanted. Not really a fan of his (even though I’m a Labour supporter) but I do think he has a point. :/

That photo was most definitely a pr stunt. Rabitte was right and there is so much pc drivel going on since the andy gray affair. I personally am sick of it.

Yeah. It is a PR stunt. Rabbitte was correct. I can see nothing sexist in his remarks. All the women are dressed colorfully but the men are dressed conservatively. Women can’t have it both ways.

“Averil Power said that Rabbitte had made sexist comments about both her and and colleague Mary Fitzpatrick, RTÉ reports.”
How is it also not sexist about Mary Coughlan and Mary Hanafin also? Or does she think herself and Mary Fitzpatrick above the other two Marys?

Do we not all think it odd that all of the women were pushed out front for this photo? What was the message here? Fianna Fáil-IMF party – friend of women. Micheal Martin – the chicks dig him? Averil Power on her first day with her face in the papers lashes out at the opposition like a newly aquired Rottweiler marking it’s territory, claiming Rabbitte’s is an ‘Andy Gray style sexist’. If only she had the dignity and decorum of Sian Massey to keep her mouth shut and let someone else make an issue of it on her behalf it would’ve come across much better and made Rabbitte look far worse. If this is the calibre of crap we’ll have to listen to for the next four weeks then it is going to be rather painful isn’t it? Rabbitte’s remarks were not so much sexist as critical of Fianna Fáil-IMF party’s ‘look-we-have-women-in-our-party-too’ stunt. He was also taking a dig at Fianna Fáil-IMF party’s appointment of unelected randomers and individuals to his front bench. As some of them are unknows to the masses they may well have been plucked from Grafton Street for all the public would’ve known. It’s yet another Fianna Fáil-IMF party trick to attempt to con the electorate into thinking that Fianna Fáil-IMF party has reinvented itself overnight and also so that they can retain seats using unfamiliar faces on campaign posters.

Rabbitte never questioned any of the women’s abilities to do their job, he was very perceptive in his analysis of the formation of the group for this first photocall. The Fianna Fáil-IMF party were the ones who were being sexist by pushing the pretty ladies (*cough*) out front rather than allowing them to mix with and stand among a group of their peers as equals. Did the ladies in question even think of this themselves? Did the media? Why were they put out front of the photo if not for this reason? They were just shy of having the girls do jazzhands at the camera for maximum attention and to distract from the sad sacks, cling-ons and rejects in the background. A stunt is precisely what it was and it is just the first of very many from the Fianna Fáil-IMF party for this campaign.

Finally – just one observation. I imagine that this photograph was taken before news of Rabbitte’s comment broke as surely his comments came following the photo-call; yet Averil Power still managed to have a face like a whelk. What a happy day it looks for them all. They’re all clearly exhilarated by the experience.

Jumping on the bandwagon I see with the recent Sky Sports controversy!

Man I wish there was a party running with only hot lesbians you could vote for, would certainly get my vote !

What ?

Does every person who is a woman who gets a position of power in an sector of employment have to deal with pat rabbites sexist remarks? I think it would be pretty funny if they did. I heard he called Miriam O’Callaghan ‘stupid’. Oh and good job on the D’Arcy show Jennifer

Has he forgotten that women have a vote……woops not a good move by him for his party. What woman will vote for a man with an opinion like that.

Nonsense. Had Mr. Rabbitte said, “Bints in politics? The idea!” that might have been sexist, but claiming that FF are pulling a stunt by choosing female unknowns (relative unknowns, fair enough) and having them strategically flanking Mr. Martin in the photo above is fairly valid. Whether Mr. Rabbitte is correct or not is another matter, but he’s not being sexist.

There’s a difference between sexism and cynicism and you have to wonder how you could vote for someone who doesn’t know that.

Nasty !