Dáil bid not hurt by attacks, says O’Gorman

THE high-profile PD candidate for Wexford, Colm O’Gorman, yesterday said he would not allow “vicious” and “personalised” articles about his private life to affect his determination to win a Dáil seat.

The One in Four founder said he accepted there would be public focus on his family situation and how it came about.

He and his partner, Paul Fyffe, are the legal guardians of two young children of a friend who died several years ago.

On a recent Late Late Show, Mr O’Gorman agreed to speak about the tragic circumstances behind them becoming parents. It was the topic of conversation again yesterday on the Joe Duffy radio show.

Following what he considers a renewed attack on, and intrusion into, his privacy in a newspaper this weekend, Mr O’Gorman said it would not deflect him from his campaign.

However, he said that his bid for a seat had limits and would not come at any costs. He said that his partner and his children had already “gone through enough”.

“I absolutely accept that it could be important to acknowledge our own family situation and how it came about. I am not naive enough not to expect that that will be a focus of public attention. But I want to set some boundaries about what people are interested in and what is in the public interest,” he said.

Mr O’Gorman added that he expected the attention and the flak that came with being a public figure.

However, echoing the sentiments of former Fianna Fáil minister, Maire Geo-ghegan Quinn (who resigned after newspapers reported the expulsion of her son from school), he argued the media had no right to impose that on the children.

“The particular situation that I am in, it came about because of an appalling tragedy for the children. They have had enough to deal with and I will not expose them to anything more.”

He said his interview with the Late Late Show was a very uncomfortable experience.

“I made my own views very clear before and after the interview,” he said.

He said some local newspapers in Wexford had described his Late Late Show experience as an “ambush” but that he himself had never used that word.

He said that people had been very supportive at the doors during canvassing.

“Only one has come up and said something negative and I have probably spoken to 1,000 people since then,” he said.