Media and Labour attacked in speech

By Conor Ryan, Political Correspondent

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

OUSTED Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue resigned from office with a rousing and embittered speech attacking how the media and the Labour Party prompted his downfall.

He said he was not corrupt and the five-star treatment he enjoyed in office was the standard accepted at the time. "In the fullness of time, it will become apparent that many matters have been distorted and exaggerated beyond the bounds of fairness ... [and] used to create an ugly, grasping, black caricature of the man I am," he said.

Mr O’Donoghue launched a scathing attack on Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, who one week earlier had forced the issue by declaring the ceann comhairle’s position to be untenable.

On a number of occasions, Mr O’Donoghue said he was denied the right to defend himself.

He said Mr Gilmore had prioritised soundbites and headlines over fairness and it was a political tactic which would come back to haunt him.

"Lest it be said that the failure to give me a chance to defend myself has somehow embittered me, I want to acknowledge that the failure to afford me a right to be fairly heard arises from weakness rather than malice," he said.

Mr O’Donoghue defended some of the costs attributed to him. He listed the price of hotels where he stayed in Venice and Cannes.

And he claimed the limo service used to ferry him between terminals in Heathrow was standard protocol.

He maintained he was not aware a £1 donation to charity on a hotel bill was claimed back by officials.

Mr O’Donoghue said the cost had been misrepresented and misconstrued.

He said a "parallel system of accountability" had emerged in the media and public discourse which disregarded the fact he had followed the Department of Finance guidelines.

The south Kerry deputy said he had been forced out for a costs’ and expenses’ regime that has been in operation for decades.

And he said the lavish expenditure linked to his travel may have been different in scale but it was no different in principle to behaviour of past and present deputies.

For this, he said, he deserved the opportunity to argue his case in front of a committee of those same Oireachtas members – the Oireachtas Commission.

Mr O’Donoghue had highlighted a handful of sections within his text for emphasis. In one such place he said he did not want his life in politics to be defined by this incident.

"I will accept the verdict of informed judgment, but not the verdict of the disingenuous. I will accept the judgment of my peers after their careful reflection ... I will not allow my life in public service to be stained by the triumph of the half truth," he said.

Mr O’Donoghue told a packed chamber of deputies and senators, along with a full gallery where his family sat, he had been wronged.

He said he acted in a transparent manner and listed what he believed were his achievements as minister for arts, sports and tourism.

And he ruled out retirement, stating the people of South Kerry were the only people who could deny him his seat in the next Dáil.

He also denied he had released the complete details of his expenses on Friday, October 2, to avail of publicity cover from the Lisbon Treaty, which was taking place at the time.

He said he published the documents five hours before the ballot box closed not for personal media advantage but because he did not want his controversy to affect the outcome of the referendum.

"In my view, it was best to have that referendum decided on its individual political merits. That is why I waited," he said.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, October 14, 2009