Watch Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness call out Brexit heckler in European Parliament

Irish MEP and Vice President of the European Parliament Mairead McGuinness reprimanded Brexiteers yesterday for repeatedly heckling during a debate saying, “This is not the House of Commons”.

McGuinness was chairing a debate on the latest Brexit developments along with Jean-Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier. Eurosceptic and Scottish MEP David Coburn interrupted the debate several times by shouting “rubbish”, and “auf wiedersehen”, as German MEP Elmar Brok addressed the room. He also shouted “good” as MEP Guy Verhofstadt spoke of the uncertainty that Brexit has caused.

Related: Britain would reverse Brexit if they had
another vote, according to poll

McGuinness responded to the continuous interruptions and heckles by saying if it was her choice, she would have the word ‘rubbish’ removed from parliament.

She continued: “This is a very difficult issue for all of us. The least we can do is respect the person who has the microphone. There are too many on my right intervening with the debate. Please listen, it is far too serious of an issue to play out in parliament.

“This is not the House of Commons, colleagues, it is the European Parliament.”

Horrendous behaviour from Tory and UKIP members, shouting “Rubbish!” as others spoke. Mairead McGuinness, Irish MEP said: “this is a very difficult issue for all of us. The least we can do is respect those speaking…This is not the House of Commons” ??pic.twitter.com/F0wdCSaguD

— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) January 30, 2019

In the aftermath, McGuinness received wide praise for her composure and measured response to the proceedings.

Mairead McGuinness is actually the vice President of the European Parliament and well respected & no better woman to put manners on them https://twitter.com/OxfordDiplomat/status/1090678631159001088

— Aran McCann (@mccann_aran) January 31, 2019

Loving Mairead McGuinness’s dignified handling of this…. https://twitter.com/oxforddiplomat/status/1090678631159001088

— Gabrielle Cummins (@GabmCummins) January 30, 2019

Poor .@Nigel_Farage getting absolutely rinsed by the women of Ireland this week.#MairéadMcGuinness #Brexit https://twitter.com/tomasbxl/status/1090646002137206785

— Dara de Brún (@DaraDeBrun) January 30, 2019