Media and Labour attacked in speech

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.