Maria Bailey

A lawsuit by Bailey against Press Up Entertainment and the Dean Hotel for alleged injuries, following a fall from an indoor swing in July 2015, attracted controversy and criticism in the media and in the {{lang|ga|Oireachtas|italic=no}} in May 2019. The controversy became known as "swing-gate".{{cite news |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/varadkar-on-swinggate-not-the-norm-of-any-party-to-publish-internal-party-inquiry-results-933077.html |title=Varadkar on SwingGate: 'Not the norm of any party' to publish internal party inquiry results |newspaper=Irish Examiner`|date=26 June 2019 |access-date=11 February 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200211010841/https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/varadkar-on-swinggate-not-the-norm-of-any-party-to-publish-internal-party-inquiry-results-933077.html |archive-date=11 February 2020}}

Bailey alleges she injured herself after falling from the swing, and that no instructions in how to use the swing had been provided and that it was unsupervised. The hotel fought the case and maintained that Bailey was holding items in both hands when she fell. The case arose at a time when there is "considerable political focus on personal injury awards and high insurance costs."{{cite news|url=https://www.herald.ie/news/courts/td-had-items-in-both-hands-when-she-fell-off-swing-hotel-claims-38131916.html|title=TD 'had items in both hands' when she fell off swing, hotel claims|last=Phelan|first=Shane|work=The Herald|date=21 May 2019|access-date=21 May 2019|archive-date=21 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521024353/https://www.herald.ie/news/courts/td-had-items-in-both-hands-when-she-fell-off-swing-hotel-claims-38131916.html|url-status=live}} Independent Senator Michael McDowell, speaking about the case in the Seanad, said: "It does occur to me that we live in a strange world where civil liability can exist in such circumstances but maybe we are only hearing a portion of the evidence. If the Government is serious about driving down the claims culture, we cannot stand idly by when adults lose their seat with two objects, one in each hand, and fall off a swing and then claim there should have been a supervisor looking after them."{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0521/1050900-maria-bailey/|title=Fine Gael TD criticised in Seanad over swing lawsuit|last=McMorrow|first=Conor|work=RTÉ|date=22 May 2019|access-date=22 May 2019|archive-date=26 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526105125/https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0521/1050900-maria-bailey/|url-status=live}} She had reportedly been holding a beer in one hand and a wine bottle in the other.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/28/fine-gael-td-provokes-widespread-scorn-after-claim-for-swing-fall |title=Voters cry foul over politician's fall from swing in Dublin bar |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Rory Carroll |date=28 May 2019 |access-date=28 May 2019 |archive-date=28 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728075741/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/28/fine-gael-td-provokes-widespread-scorn-after-claim-for-swing-fall |url-status=live }} Leader of the Opposition Micheál Martin said the case "flies in the face of everything being done to keep insurance costs down."{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/maria-bailey-faces-call-for-clarification-over-swing-claim-case-1.3904711|title=Maria Bailey faces call for clarification over swing claim case|last1=Horgan-Jones|first1=Jack|last2=O'Halloran|first2=Marie|work=Irish Times|date=25 May 2019|access-date=26 May 2019|archive-date=25 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525202943/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/maria-bailey-faces-call-for-clarification-over-swing-claim-case-1.3904711|url-status=live}}

She dropped the compensation claim after it emerged that she had run a 10 km race in under an hour, only three weeks after the fall, despite claiming in court documents that she could not run in the three months after the accident. The Irish Independent also reposted social media pictures of Bailey attending the Longitude Music Festival eight days after the alleged incident.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/swing-case-td-maria-bailey-drops-compensation-claim-against-hotel-38147952.html|title=Swing case TD Maria Bailey drops compensation claim against hotel|last1=Collins|first1=Liam|last2=Doyle|first2=Kevin|work=Irish Independent|date=25 May 2019|access-date=25 May 2019|archive-date=25 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525182847/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/swing-case-td-maria-bailey-drops-compensation-claim-against-hotel-38147952.html|url-status=live}}

Two days after polling day in the 2019 local elections, {{lang|ga|Taoiseach|italic=no}} Leo Varadkar said that news of the compensation claim in the week preceding the elections had caused reputational damage to Fine Gael.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/maria-baileys-personal-injury-claim-caused-reputational-damage-for-fine-gael-varadkar-38149820.html|title=Maria Bailey's personal injury claim caused 'reputational damage' for Fine Gael - Varadkar|last=Lavery|first=Callum|work=Irish Independent|date=26 May 2019|access-date=26 May 2019|archive-date=26 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526163507/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/maria-baileys-personal-injury-claim-caused-reputational-damage-for-fine-gael-varadkar-38149820.html|url-status=live}} On 27 May, Bailey gave an interview described by some Fine Gael colleagues as "a car crash" and "the worst political interview I’ve ever heard", on the Today with Seán O'Rourke RTÉ radio programme. In the interview, she said that the media had "crossed the line of public invasion and humanity." Health minister Simon Harris said of the interview "I think it was an unfortunate interview. I think when you withdraw a claim I think it is in and of itself an acknowledgement of the fact that perhaps that claim shouldn’t have proceeded, yet the interview seems to be very much in the space of blaming lots of other people."{{cite web|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/maria-bailey-interview-4655365-May2019/|title=Fine Gael reacts to 'car crash' Maria Bailey interview: 'I think she did herself a disservice this morning'|last=Finn|first=Christina|publisher=TheJournal.ie|date=27 May 2019|access-date=27 May 2019|archive-date=27 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527155931/https://www.thejournal.ie/maria-bailey-interview-4655365-May2019/|url-status=live}} On 29 May, Fine Gael announced it was going to undertake "an internal review to establish all facts."{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0529/1052466-maria-bailey/|title=Fine Gael to carry out internal review in relation to Bailey case|last=Lehane|first=Mícheál|publisher=RTÉ|date=29 May 2019|access-date=29 May 2019|archive-date=29 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190529191840/https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2019/0529/1052466-maria-bailey/|url-status=live}} In July 2019, Leo Varadkar announced that as a result of the review, Bailey was being removed as chair of the Oireachtas Housing Committee.{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/maria-bailey-removed-as-committee-chair-over-compensation-claim-1.3965091|title=Maria Bailey removed as committee chair over compensation claim|last=Kelly|first=Fiach|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=23 July 2019|access-date=29 July 2019|archive-date=25 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725051424/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/maria-bailey-removed-as-committee-chair-over-compensation-claim-1.3965091|url-status=live}}

In May 2020, it was reported that Bailey had lodged a High Court defamation proceedings against the publisher of the Irish Daily Mirror.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/maria-bailey-takes-action-against-newspaper-over-swing-gate-coverage-1.4265113|title=Maria Bailey takes action against newspaper over 'swing gate' coverage|first=Colm|last=Keena|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=23 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623075934/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/maria-bailey-takes-action-against-newspaper-over-swing-gate-coverage-1.4265113|url-status=live}} The same month, a prominent personal injuries lawyer told the Irish Independent that, one year after it first made the headlines, the Bailey case was "probably the single most important event in the whole controversy over damages and claims and compo culture", with solicitors "think[ing] much longer and harder" about which cases to become involved with and claimants "far more reluctant to get themselves tarred by the Maria Bailey brush".{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/one-year-on-swing-gate-still-reverberates-in-the-worlds-of-politics-and-law-39227985.html|title='Swing-gate' still reverberates in the worlds of politics and law: One year on, the controversy is still having an impact|last=Phelan|first=Shane|work=Irish Independent|date=23 May 2020|access-date=23 May 2020|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706061228/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/one-year-on-swing-gate-still-reverberates-in-the-worlds-of-politics-and-law-39227985.html|url-status=live}}

In June 2024, the Irish Independent announced that Bailey had lost a case she had initiated against it and other entities in the same media group, in a complaint made to the Data Protection Commissioner in 2020. Bailey had complained that her health privacy had been breached, and that being a public representative should not mean that she was open to "public scrutiny". Mediahuis Ireland defended the case, arguing that insurance fraud and "compo culture" was being debated publicly, that "A government TD must accept they are exposed to a higher standard of public scrutiny than ordinary citizens," and "the simple factual position is that an elected representative gave sworn evidence in writing that was patently untrue." The DPC in its ruling stated that the Irish Independent "was reporting on matters in the public interest" and "it is clear that the private sphere of the politicians is narrower."{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/swing-gate-maria-bailey-loses-four-year-privacy-battle-over-reports-on-compensation-linked-to-fall-from-unsupervised-swing/a604896742.html|title=Swing-gate: Maria Bailey loses four-year privacy battle over reports on compensation linked to fall from 'unsupervised' swing|last=Doyle|first=Kevin|publisher=Irish Independent|date=22 June 2024|access-date=22 June 2024}}

As the controversy unfolded, Bailey faced criticism from her own party and constituency members, including calls for her to be removed as a candidate in the next general election.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/maria-bailey-facing-revolt-from-local-fine-gael-members-in-wake-of-swingfall-case-38344911.html|title=Maria Bailey facing revolt from local Fine Gael members in wake of swing-fall case|work=Irish Independent|date=25 July 2019|access-date=29 July 2019|archive-date=25 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190725210843/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/maria-bailey-facing-revolt-from-local-fine-gael-members-in-wake-of-swingfall-case-38344911.html|url-status=live}}

In October 2019, a vote of no-confidence was put forward from her own constituency members but was deferred until a later date, while elected colleagues removed her image from their social media platforms.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/fine-gael-heave-against-swinggate-td-maria-bailey-begins-as-no-confidence-vote-tabled-in-constituency-38606411.html|title=Fine Gael heave against 'swing-gate' TD Maria Bailey begins as no confidence vote tabled in constituency|last=Sheahan|first=Fionnan|work=Irish Independent|date=17 October 2019|access-date=19 October 2019|archive-date=19 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019051900/https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/fine-gael-heave-against-swinggate-td-maria-bailey-begins-as-no-confidence-vote-tabled-in-constituency-38606411.html|url-status=live}} In November 2019, the Fine Gael National Executive voted to deselect her as a candidate in the next general election.{{cite news|url=https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1114/1090761-maria-bailey/|title=Maria Bailey deselected as Fine Gael election candidate|publisher=RTÉ|date=14 November 2019|access-date=14 November 2019|archive-date=14 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114063132/https://www.rte.ie/news/2019/1114/1090761-maria-bailey/|url-status=live}}

{{reflist}}

{{Dún Laoghaire (Dáil constituency)/TDs}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Maria}}

Category:1975 births

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the 32nd Dáil

Category:Fine Gael TDs

Category:Members of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown Council

Category:21st-century women Teachtaí Dála

Category:Fine Gael local councillors