Councillor Mannix Flynn stormed out of a Dublin City Council meeting screaming "how dare you" during a debate on establishing a memorial on a Magdalene laundry site.
The incident was condemned by other councillors who said it was "unacceptable" while acknowledging Cllr Flynn's experience in an industrial school. The matter will be referred to the Protocol Committee.
The Council was debating whether they should hand over the site on Sean McDermott Street to the Office of Public Works to be turned into a "site of conscience."
Read more: Former Magdalene laundry on Sean McDermott Street to be turned into 'site of conscience'
He said: "I am completely opposing this disposal on the grounds that this will involve some sort of hope and gesture of a memorial site... I am totally in favour of demolishing the site in its entirety.
"Why would you want to keep a disgusting piece of much where wholesale horror took place on Sean McDermott Street. Why would yo want to re-stigmatise an area that is desperately trying to move itself on with this nonsense."
Cllr Flynn began to raise his voice as he came to the last thirty seconds of his contribution.
"If you have any shame at all, you would demolish this building as a gesture, and that would be the gesture for the memorial. I mean wipe it off the face of the earth and squash it down to a pulp and throw it away.
"There are hundreds of buildings like this throughout the country, hundreds of buildings, excuse me Lord Mayor, hundreds of buildings. Every single aspect of this will be fought in the Courts... This is outrageous."
Cllr Flynn told the Chamber the site was a "great" opportunity for the Council to develop their own housing as the Lord Mayor reminded him his time was up. He said: "And here you are again, dumping it. Shame on the lot of you people."
At her first full DCC meeting, Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy repeatedly told Cllr Flynn his time was up but he kept raising his voice.
He said: "It is entirely wrong Lord Mayor. It is entirely wrong that you would insult people like this."
Cllr Flynn's microphone was cut off but he continued as he became visibly angry.
"You never went through any of this sh*t. You don't have to deal with this on a daily basis as to what happened your family. You don't have to deal with it.
"Yet here you are leaping up and down about something you know nothing about.
The Lord Mayor tried again to stop Cllr Flynn but he insisted he "has every right to speak like this".
"I am sick and tired of this Council Chamber reneging on the people, reneging on the people." Cllr Flynn's voice rose to a shout, saying, "how dare you? How dare you?"
As the Lord Mayor tried to move to the next speaker, Cllr Flynn took to his feet and continued. He said: "An absolute disgrace, is what you are. A real, real disgrace. You are so disgusting. How f**king dare you?"
Somebody called out, "through the Chair" to which Cllr Flynn shouted "through the Chair my b*llix".
"You are a disgusting lot of scum, that's what you are. With your fakery, your absolute fakery. And your Magdalene laundry fakery. It is outrageous."
Cllr Flynn then took to the centre oval in the chamber and shouted: "Here my voice in this room now, this is an absolute disgrace."
He started for the door before he turned back and shouted: "How dare you? How dare you? How dare you? How dare you? Do you hear me? You weren't there. Your family weren't there."
He shouted, "how dare you" two more times at the top of his voice before he stormed out of the chamber.
Councillors said his behaviour was "unacceptable" but acknowledged his experience in industrial schools. They agreed to refer the matter to the Protocol Committee by a lack of consultation.
Speaking to Dublin Live after the incident, Cllr Flynn showed no remorse and said he wouldn't be apologising. He said: "do they not know what trauma is?"
Councillors agreed to dispose of the site to the OPW which will be in charge of making sure the former residents of mother and baby homes, industrial schools and other institutions are remembered properly.
The building on Sean McDermott Street only closed its doors in 1996 after more than 11,000 were incarcerated in laundries across the country. It had previously been handed over to Dublin City Council in the nineties which planned to use the site for housing. However, a deal to build 179 apartments on the site later collapsed.
The project is expected to take five years.
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