Nanny-in-chief loses her seat in parliament

There was a notable loser during Ireland’s Seanad election count yesterday.

Catherine Noone, who was elected to Ireland’s upper parliament in 2011, lost her seat after a series of incidents including the well-meaning but calamitous suggestion that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is “autistic” and “on the spectrum”.

To put this in perspective, in the 2016 general election Noone was Varadkar’s Fine Gael running mate. He got elected, she didn’t. Instead, after she was re-elected to the upper house, and in a clear vote of confidence, he appointed her deputy leader of the Seanad.

By then Senator Noone had already made a name for herself with interventions on subjects as diverse as regulating ice cream vans and mixed martial arts, which she once wanted to ban before doing a sharp U-turn.

She also called for ‘no fry zones’ near schools and supported minimum pricing of alcohol and plain packaging of tobacco.

She took a more liberal attitude to vaping, one of only a handful of Irish politicians to do so (publicly at least), but only as a smoking cessation tool.

To her credit she showed enormous courage, chairing a parliamentary committee on abortion, a hugely controversial issue in Ireland. As a result she attracted a shocking amount of personal abuse and online trolling but proved remarkably resilient.

What I really liked about her was her sense of humour and her willingness to engage with her critics, especially on the issue of the nanny state.

When, in November 2017, Forest Ireland awarded her the title ‘Nanny-in-Chief’ she not only accepted her trophy in person, she gave a witty speech that began, “Libertarians, contrarians, barbarians, thank you.”

She later tweeted, ‘Proud recipient of the Golden Nanny Award 2017 – proud moment.’

The following year she returned to present the same award to her friend and colleague Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (who lost her seat, in the Dáil, in January).

We have our differences on policy but I wish there were more politicians like Catherine Noone. Dare I say it, but I hope she’ll be back, older and a little wiser.

But first, I would recommend a good media training course and a personal mute button!

PS. The Irish Independent reports (Fine Gael Senator loses Seanad seat after career marked by political blunders):

Ms Noone has had a colourful career after first being elected to the Seanad in 2011 ... She admitted at one point that she’s seen as “queen nanny” in some quarters and once turned up to accept a ‘nanny-in-chief’ award from a smokers’ rights group.

See also: Senator wins award as head of Ireland’s ‘nanny state’ (The Times)

Below: Catherine Noone accepts her Golden Nanny award