Minister of State Josepha Madigan has defended her call for an end to gender titles such as "chairman" and "spokesman" and maintains The Kerryman newspaper title should be changed to "Kerry People".
Ms Madigan, who is Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion, told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show, that gender and language were important and said it was important not to use words that did not reflect present values.
The issue was not about a particular newspaper, it was much broader, and it was her duty as a female politician to look around her and see what could be improved, she said in response to a suggestion by Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae that she should be focusing on Covid-19.
“It’s good to be having this discussion,” the Minister said.
Earlier Siobhán Murphy, general manager of the Kerryman newspaper, said that the content of the newspaper had changed with the times, but there was no need to change the title which was their brand and had been since 1904.
Mr Healy-Rae said that the Kerryman was comparable to the bible in his home county and local people were always looking forward to reading it. “It plays an integral role in the community.”
It was time to stop “this political correctness nonsense”, he said. Would the name “manhole” have to be changed to “personhole”, he asked. He had yet to hear a customer in his shop complain about the title of the newspaper.
When asked about the title of the magazine Woman’s Way, Ms Madigan agreed it too should be changed.
Earlier on Newstalk Breakfast Mr Healy-Rae said: “What I would say to Government Ministers at the minute is, ‘For God’s sake do your job’. We have enough to be worried about than to consider the title of The Kerryman newspaper.”