Unintentional jester no stranger to controversy

In recent years, Ned O’Keeffe’s outspoken, colourful and sometimes erratic views provided much in the way of political light entertainment.

He became something of an unintentional jester — his blunt comments often subjected to ridicule or derision — which was a curious outcome for an astute politician and businessman who studied the pages of the Financial Times as closely as the newsletters in his constituency.

In Feb last year, in the midst of the general election, he said the country’s situation had become so bad that there was a real risk of a military coup.

“Our political system is going to fail further. The two Brians have made a right mess of the country and I see the real possibility of an army coup.”

Mr O’Keeffe, of course, wasn’t running in the election, having chosen to retire after serving almost 30 years as a Fianna Fáil TD (he was first elected in 1982).

It could have been argued that making such comments about Messrs Cowen and Lenihan was doing nothing to help FF’s chances in an already nightmarish election. Yet the reality was that, by that stage, the public had mind up its mind about Fianna Fáil and few in politics paid attention to Mr O’Keeffe’s comments.

A couple of years earlier, he had done little to help his own cause when bluntly declaring he was not interested in helping constituents who didn’t vote for him.

The parents’ council of Scoil Bhríde in the village of Rathcormac, Co Cork, had been seeking his support in its campaign to replace the school’s prefabs with a proper building. Mr O’Keeffe responded by saying he had never enjoyed strong backing in Rathcormac and preferred to help his own supporters.

“I was contacted by a representative of the parents’ council and told her straight out my position. Des O’Malley used to do the same. All things being equal, I asked her why I should look after the people of Rathcormac if they didn’t look after me?” he asked. “I’ll prioritise, as a politician, my own area and the areas I think are right and are necessary and where I get my support from. Because I won’t be in Dáil Éireann if I don’t get that support.”

Many years earlier, Mr O’Keeffe had famously been ridiculed for his suggestion that the film Babe, which featured a talking pig, be boycotted in case it affected Christmas ham sales. Mr O’Keeffe knew a thing or two about the pork industry — the family pig farm was one of the biggest in the State. Indeed, the farm would effectively end his ministerial career.

In late 2000, Mr O’Keeffe was the junior minister at the Department of Agriculture with special responsibility for food when it emerged he had failed to disclose that the farm had a licence to feed meat and bone-meal to pigs.

The State’s ethics watchdog initiated an investigation into the non-declaration and Mr O’Keeffe resigned in 2001. He was found to have inadvertently breached the Ethics in Public Office Act and was suspended from the Dáil for 10 days.

His career ended once he decided not to run in last year’s election. But he wasn’t done with controversy — as his arrest demonstrated.