Old interviews have haunted Áras hopefuls before
In late 1990, when she was seeking to become the first woman president, Mary Robinson gave a controversial interview to Hot Press magazine.
In the interview, conducted by well-known journalist Liam Fay, Ms Robinson was asked if she would be happy to perform the official opening of a contraceptive stall in a Virgin Megastore.
“Yes. This is a very young country and I think it would be helpful to have a president who was in touch with what young people are doing,” she replied.
She indicated she would be equally happy to officiate at the opening of a gay rights centre.
Anyone under a certain age may struggle to imagine why on earth those views were deemed controversial at the time.
But in 1990 in Ireland, homosexuality was illegal and only certain professionals — such as chemists, GPs and health board employees — could sell or distribute condoms.
A few months before Ms Robinson’s interview, the Irish Family Planning Association had been fined £400 by the courts for illegally operating a stall selling condoms in the Virgin Megastore in Dublin. The fine would later be increased to £500 on appeal.
For these reasons, Ms Robinson’s answers were deemed unwise. So unwise, in fact, that in a front-page headline, the Irish Press dubbed the interview “the longest suicide note in history”.
Fay recalled the controversy — and Ms Robinson’s reaction to it — in an article he wrote for the 30th anniversary of Hot Press in 2007.
“The furore initially seemed quite exciting until I heard the One O’Clock news,” Fay recalled.
“A spokesperson for the Robinson camp was insisting that the candidate had been ‘misquoted.’
“By late afternoon, Robinson had conceded that she wasn’t misquoted but insisted that she would not officiate at the opening of any illegal enterprise.
“She offered what became known as the ‘yes-mechanism’ defence whereby she claimed to have a habit of saying yes to show she’d understood a question before formulating her reply. This, one imagines, must create endless confusion when her answer to a question is ‘no’.”
But the squall blew over, with no lasting damage to the candidate, who, of course, famously went on to win the presidency.
Fergus Finlay, who was heavily involved in the Robinson campaign, reckoned it blew over largely because Fianna Fáil failed to capitalise on the controversy.
Writing in his political memoir, Snakes & Ladders, the former Labour chief adviser (who himself is seeking to contest this year’s presidential election) wrote: “Mary made a series of gaffes in a Hot Press interview she gave, and compounded them with a radio interview in which she appeared to deny the views she had expressed on the record.
“In light of what was to happen subsequently, when Brian Lenihan (Snr) gave two totally conflicting accounts of events, it could be argued that Mary got away with murder — and was helped enormously by the fact that Fianna Fáil basically ignored the controversy.”
It remains to be seen, however, whether David Norris can survive the controversy which his old interviews — touching on issues such as pederasty, the age of consent, the legalisation of drug use and prostitution — have ignited.
To contest the presidential election, a candidate needs to be nominated by at least 20 members of the Oireachtas (TDs and/or senators) or at least four city and/or county councils.
In other words, there is a political qualifier before a candidate gets into the final — the public vote.
When Mary Robinson gave that Hot Press interview, she had already secured the Labour nomination to contest the presidency (albeit she was running as an Independent candidate).
That meant she was in the final race and the public ultimately got to decide on the interview and the numerous other events that shaped her campaign.
Although David Norris has launched his campaign to win the presidency, he has not yet received a nomination, meaning there is no guarantee he will get as far as a public vote.
And receiving a nomination from either four councils, or 20 Oireachtas members, may now be an uphill battle.
Most politicians prefer to shy away from controversy.
And to avoid bringing the Norris controversy to their own doorsteps, they may now feel they are better nominating someone else.
