When Senator Rebecca Moynihan arrived at Leinster House for American President Joe Biden’s address in the Dáil on Thursday, the plan was for eight-week-old baby Margot to remain outside the chamber, being minded by a colleague.
However, that colleague got delayed elsewhere and ended up unable to come in, and as a result, Senator Moynihan brought her baby into the Dáil chamber for the speech.
As a result, baby Margot became an unexpected guest of honour, with Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghail citing her among the list of guests. This was met with a large applause in the chamber.
“I do suspect that Margot’s attendance here will go down in family folklore for many years to come,” he said.
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President Biden then apologised to baby Margot as the beginning of his address, for having to listen to a policy speech.
“Yesterday morning, I had not been crazy about going in, I could not find anything to wear to fit me because I haven’t worn proper clothes since I had the baby, and she was fussing and kind of crying and puking a little bit,” Senator Moynihan said, reflecting on her “whirlwind” of a day.
“Listen, if you had seen me in the morning, I was like ‘this is too hard, I am just staying at home!’” but with some convincing from her husband, she went in on the number 26 bus.
Having left the Dáil chamber towards the end of the address to deal with a dirty nappy and a baby that was “about to kick off,” Senator Moynihan was in the right place at the right time, when President Biden’s sister and son were coming down the stairs ahead of their brother and father.
“They were like, ‘oh, there’s the little baby!’, and she [Valerie] was saying to me that she has a new grandbaby that is only like a month old, and then Hunter Biden was like, ‘oh he would really love to see her, he loves babies’,” the Labour party Senator said.
“Then he [President Biden] was coming down the stairs and just put his arms out for her. So then I just gave him Margot! It looks like I’m just flinging Margot at him but he kind of had his hands out for her and she was just a bit wriggly.
“It was really, really lovely and just a really special moment, particularly as earlier on, a couple of hours earlier I was like, ‘this is just too hard’, and because with a newborn baby, it is really difficult to get out of the house sometimes, and so I am really glad that I brought her in. It’ll be a lovely memory for her in years to come,” Senator Moynihan added.
She also explained that she is still getting used to motherhood, as Margot is her first child.
“Babies can be fine one minute then absolutely hysterical the next, and I just wasn’t sure whether it was a good day or a bad day, but even a week ago I don’t think I would have been able to do it.”
Baby Margot was always coming to Leinster House with her mother, as Senator Moynihan is breastfeeding and cannot be away from Margot for long as a result. But the appeal of posterity was also a factor.
“Half the reason for going in was for her to be there as well, so she could experience that and to have that kind of memory for her, because she is so young,” Senator Moynihan said.
The pair finished their day as it began, on the number 26 bus home, with baby Margot blissfully unaware of being the centre of the world’s attention for the afternoon.
