Norris letter too grave a matter for Cork councillors

PRESIDENTIAL hopeful David Norris left Cork in a hurry yesterday morning, probably aware that county councillors there were not going to endorse his bid for the presidency.

Initially, when news broke last Friday that the council would meet to discuss endorsing the senator, it might have appeared they’d thrown him a lifeline.

However, over the intervening days it became clear, the letter Mr Norris wrote to an Israeli judge asking for leniency for his former partner, who was convicted of having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy, was to prove his undoing as far as a number of councillors were concerned.