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16th Oct 2018

WATCH: Controversial Heckler Interrupted Last Night’s Presidential Election Debate Live On RTÉ

Darragh Berry

With just over a week to go until the Presidential Election, Claire Byrne Live hosted a debate on her RTÉ programme on Monday night with all the candidates, excluding Michael D. Higgins.

With about ten minute to go in the debate, just as Dragons Den star and current candidate, Peter Casey was talking, heckling from the audience began.

Casey tried to respond to the audience member as she said repeatedly “I’ve had enough” by saying “now this person…” but couldn’t get the words above all the commotion.

The matter got so bad that Claire Byrne was forced to cut to a commercial break and it transpired that the heckler was in fact, Norma Burke better known as Bunty Twuntingdown McFluff who had put in a bid to become a candidate for the Áras.

Watch the madness below.

The bid was a protest against the “the quality of candidates.” She told Morning Ireland a month ago that when she ran for the bid, “I was in the character of this woman who runs a PR firm and who has set up an office in Dublin post-Brexit.

“It was pretty outrageous, in order to make the point I was making I had to make it outrageous.

“If I didn’t make it outrageous, people may not have got it, they may have thought it was real.

“I covered serious issues, the point was I looked at the subjects through the lens of a grotesque character.”

It’s not the first time that Burke has got in trouble with RTÉ either. Her and Dublin City Councillor Mannix Flynn got into a full on row on radio during the Morning Ireland section.

Flynn deemed her stunt completely disrespectful and disgraceful to the rest of the candidates running.

You can hear that heated radio row here.

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