Dáil dress code: new TDs face fashion challenge

FLAMBOYANT NEW TDs may have their style cramped when they enter the Dáil chamber for the first time next Wednesday thanks to Leinster House’s notoriously strict dress code.

While anything less than the regulation dark-coloured suit and tie combination is generally frowned upon by the watchful authorities, a quaintly-worded memorandum on decorum in the House does not rule anything out and appears to leave outfit choices to the discretion of members.

“Members should dress in a manner that reflects the dignity of the House,” the memorandum simply states.

Among those expected to cut an alternative dash among the Dáil’s conservative dressers are the new Independent TD for Wexford Mick Wallace, a developer with tumbling blond locks and a penchant for bright pink jerseys. Yesterday he promised to spruce up his appearance and dress in a “decent fashion”, adding that he would “make sure I’ll have a shower before I go in”.

People Before Profit’s Joan Collins, elected as a Dublin South-Central deputy under the United Left Alliance umbrella, will be the only TD with visible piercings. She has pledged to retain her nose-stud and numerous earrings. Ms Collins is not expected to adopted the regulation shoulder-padded jackets popularised in the 1980s by her Dynasty star namesake and favoured by most Irish women politicians ever since.

Collins’s casually dressed colleague Richard Boyd Barrett, the new TD for Dún Laoghaire, has already revealed he does not own a suit. Independent Roscommon-South Leitrim deputy Luke “Ming” Flanagan is unlikely to alter his striking look, with his trademark beard and ponytail, after all these years.

The Dáil’s most famous non-tie-wearing TD was the late deputy for Dublin Central Tony Gregory, whose successor Maureen O’Sullivan retained her seat at the weekend.

Her first impression of Leinster House was “how male dominated it is and these men in suits!”.

The Green Party deputies’ style shifted suddenly when they withdrew from the coalition government with Fianna Fáil ahead of the general election. John Gormley, Eamon Ryan and others never looked entirely comfortable when trussed up in regulation politician-wear, and immediately reverted back to more crumpled casual clothes.