Gaffes ahoy as Lenihan puts his proverbial in it

THE gaffes just keep on coming. First, it was Tánaiste Mary Coughlan not knowing how many EU commissioners the larger member states get — a gaffe that did little to help the Government’s Lisbon treaty campaign.

Then it was Brian Lenihan bemoaning his luck at becoming Finance Minister at a time when the housing boom was coming to a “shuddering halt”.

Yesterday, Mr Lenihan was at it again, appearing not to know the correct age at which Irish people are entitled to vote.

Addressing Japanese businessmen in Dublin, Mr Lenihan — a barrister by training — suggested Irish citizens have to wait until 21 before they are allowed vote. In fact, the voting age is 18.

Mr Lenihan was paying tribute to Astellas, the Japanese pharmaceutical company which is celebrating 20 years in Ireland, when he made the remarks, which were caught on camera by RTÉ.

“I want to wish the company a happy birthday party. You haven’t quite come of age. You’re 20 years, you’ve one year to go. Of course in Ireland, at any rate — in Irish culture — you can only vote at 21, so you only have the right to protest and scream comprehensively from the age of 21. You don’t quite have that right yet.”

It’s not the first time a member of the Lenihan family has made a verbal gaffe.

Brian’s brother, junior minister Conor Lenihan, famously landed in hot water in the Dáil in May 2005 when telling Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins to “stick to the kebabs”.

Conor Lenihan denied he was referring to the underpaid Turkish construction workers on whose behalf Mr Higgins had been campaigning, but subsequently made an apology to the Dáil.

Their aunt, Mary O’Rourke, has also found herself in occasional difficulty because of remarks she made.

In January 2006, she praised campaign staff who had “worked like blacks” to help her win a place on the party ticket for last year’s general election.

And just last month, she had a simple solution to the problems caused by the dictatorial Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe: “I think the only way he’d be got rid of is somebody shooting him.”