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Cllr Joan Collins, left, was incensed by Bertie Ahern's "smug" face Joan Collins/PA Images/Julien Behal via Facebook and PA Images

I was incensed by Bertie's smug face: Councillor tackles Ahern on his last day

Former Taoiseach Ahern gets an earful as he exits the Dail.

A DUBLIN CITY councillor who interrupted a radio interview with Bertie Ahern to criticise the former Taoiseach has said she did so because she was “incensed” by his “smug face”.

Councillor Joan Collins, who is running under the People Before Profit Alliance banner in Dublin South Central in the upcoming general election, said she had not gone to Leinster House with the intention of tackling outgoing TD Ahern. She told TheJournal.ie:

We were there doing a press call on people’s wages at the end of the month and how they have been hit. We were just standing there when Bertie Ahern appeared with his smug face on him doing an interview about his last day in the Dail.

I was just incensed.

Collins interrupted the interview Ahern was doing with RTE News to tell him that he should be ashamed of himself. “Shame on you,” she said. “Thank you,” replied Ahern.

Collins said that she then had to walk away from the situation because she was so angry.

When Ahern was asked by his interviewer if this was the kind of anger that Fianna Fail TDs were going to face on doorsteps during the election campaign, Ahern answered:

Well it is, but I have to say that outside here this happens every day because people come along here to try and get themselves on TV and radio.

Responding to Ahern’s comment about his critics being people who might be trying to “get themselves on TV and radio”, Collins told TheJournal.ie:

That’s contemptuous. This is an example of people like him living in their bubble. We have to burst that bubble and I’d ask people to just go out on the 25th of February or whenever the election will be and vote.

Listen here for the moment when Ahern was pulled up by an angry Collins>

The interview with Ahern revealed that one of his biggest regrets was that the so-called Bertie Bowl had never been built. As he left the Dail where he had been a TD for 34 years, he said that he “would have loved if somebody somewhere had told me what was going on in the banks in this country but nobody ever did”.

On the other hand, he said, he deeply regretted that “little countries like Qatar and Kuwait” were able to build “their ten stadiums and we never succeeded in getting one national stadium”. You can watch Bertie Ahern being interviewed on these issues and more on his last full day at the Dail on the RTE website.

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    Mute Auntie Dote
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    Oct 17th 2012, 1:14 PM

    You’re late sharing this clip – it’s been doing the rounds for a while – but it is rather wonderful!

    Re the definitions of “sexism” & “misogyny,” I think she is absolutely right to keep the focus on behaviour rather than intention.

    No one can know another’s intentions or subjective feelings, but words and actions are clearly visible & verifiable & therefore subject to fair judgment.

    51
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    Mute Patrick Lyons
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    Oct 17th 2012, 1:42 PM

    It is usually the ugly women that complain about sexism. You would not hear this sort of nonsense from Cheryl Cole or Rihanna – two stunners.

    49
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    Mute Norman Hunter
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    Oct 17th 2012, 1:58 PM

    What modelling agency employs you Patrick?

    87
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    Mute js1711
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    Oct 17th 2012, 2:09 PM

    He also called her a witch and a man’s bitch. Don’t get so offended on behalf of men while making another sexist side swipe at women. Sometimes it’s sexism.

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    Mute Stephen Church
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    Oct 17th 2012, 2:24 PM

    I dunno, saw the pictures of rihanna a while ago, she looks bet down , must have been why crhis brown dumpe her

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    Mute Patrick Lyons
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    Oct 17th 2012, 3:13 PM

    Ok Stephen we can ditch Rihanna as well and use Alessandra Ambrosio instead. Now I hope everybody is happy.

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    Mute Nivag Yeoh
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    Oct 17th 2012, 3:53 PM

    Plenty of overt sexists on the journal, i see

    34
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    Mute Máire Egan
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    Oct 23rd 2012, 12:19 PM

    On that point Patrick why are all misogynistic men usually unattractive, bald and sexually frustrated?

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    Mute Mick Lennon
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    Oct 17th 2012, 2:32 PM

    sexist – Australian in the same sentence,im shocked and appalled,now tell that Sheila to put some more shrimps on the Barbie

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    Mute Reginald St Worthing
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    Oct 17th 2012, 3:51 PM

    Patrick’s a trolling misogynist, with the mental age of seventeen-year-old. Ignore him.

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    Mute Nivag Yeoh
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    Oct 17th 2012, 3:54 PM

    Correct.

    Don’t feed the troll.

    35
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    Mute Patrick Lyons
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    Oct 17th 2012, 1:12 PM

    Oh dear where is all this going? Could ‘dear’ be termed sexist? It might not have been when I started the sentence but it might be now, or now, or now, or now.

    34
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    Mute Kevin O'Brien
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    Oct 17th 2012, 1:42 PM

    Referring to a female colleague as ‘dear’ can be construed as sexist as well as patronising and overly familiar.

    124
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    Mute Micheal
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    Oct 17th 2012, 1:51 PM

    Mad, crazy idea – call the person by their name! Or just say “hello”, don’t add in the dears, birds, dahlings, loves, chicks, stags, foxes, badgers, leave the wildlife references at the door!

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    Mute El Brujillo
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    Oct 17th 2012, 2:36 PM

    Patrick are you skeptical that sexism exists? i refer also to your comment below. If you are, you demonstrate either a worrying lack of ability to disseminate media output and general societal patterns, not to mention contact with articulate, self-aware women- or an equally worrying ignorance that these things exist.

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    Mute Ryan Allen
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    Oct 17th 2012, 5:27 PM

    Next time a female friend calls me “hon” I shall stand up to her for her blatant sexism!

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    Mute John O'Neill
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    Oct 17th 2012, 8:05 PM

    I just can’t stand women who accuse us men of misogyny…

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    Mute Brian Horton
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    Oct 17th 2012, 1:19 PM

    She looks a bit like and definitely sounds like an Aussie version of Clare Daly.

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    Mute Stephen Maher
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    Oct 17th 2012, 2:03 PM

    Ditch the witch!!

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    Mute Tony Rogers
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    Oct 17th 2012, 3:16 PM

    Sure she cant even put one foot in front of the other without falling over. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpUUt2QpacU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

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    Mute Patrick Lyons
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    Oct 17th 2012, 3:29 PM

    It looks as if she was trying to walk like a man. Those guys should have linked her to prevent her falling. It is well known that men are better walkers than women. We are built to hunt and protect. Women are built to feed and tend. Nature takes care of its own.

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    Mute Elaad Yair
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    Oct 17th 2012, 6:24 PM

    It’s an old tradition to make fun of MS Gillard’s English. They also say she mispronounces the word Negotiate…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49zF8m7ys24

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    Mute Mary Marmion Kilcoole
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    Oct 23rd 2012, 9:47 AM

    shoot the messenger if you dont agree with the misoginist..oops mysogenist…or messagenist.

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