Government party leaders criticise cartoon depicting Mary Lou McDonald as a witch

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister Eamon Martin all hit out at the cartoon, which appeared in the Sunday Independent.

It accompanied an article by columnist Eoghan Harris, which was focused on Sinn Féin.

In the column, Mr Harris accused the party of working up a “frenzy” in the media over calling for the Tánaiste to resign amid the Garda investigation into his leaking of a confidential document.

The cartoon was criticised by the National Women’s Council of Ireland.

Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar said: “I think it was sexist, I think it was wrong, I think it was misogynistic and I was surprised that it got published, quite frankly.

“It’s not the first time that a female politician has been characterised as a witch. I hope it’s going to be the last, given the controversy around it and that’s just not the way things should be in politics.”

Mr Ryan, the Green Party leader, called it “deeply disrespectful and hurtful”.

“The current climate dissuades a lot of people, particularly women, from going into politics. That has to change,” he said.

The Taoiseach said that he “doesn’t approve” of the cartoon.

“I don’t approve of that kind of characterisation of women in politics and we’ve all been characterised to different extents in different cartoons,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.

A spokesperson for the Sunday Independent’s publisher, INM – which is also the publisher of Independent.ie – said: “Newspaper cartoons often walk a fine line between satire and causing offence.

“We accept that last weekend’s cartoon featuring Mary Lou McDonald has offended some people. This was not the intention. Freedom of expression is a core principle of our parent company Mediahuis and we encourage the formulation of strong, sharp opinions in words, images and illustrations.”