Either you sit in inquisitor’s chair, or you become the object of inquiry

By accusing Health Minister Simon Harris of being a ‘little boy’ during the CervicalCheck scandal, Tony O’Brien placed himself in the schoolyard, writes Gerard Howlin

That the tongue is the most dangerous muscle in the human body is a truth which came to mind last Sunday when I read the interview given to the Sunday Business Post by the former head of the HSE, Tony O’Brien.

It was substantive stuff and a serious mistake. Susan Mitchell, the ever-excellent health editor of that newspaper, quoted O’Brien as describing Health Minister Simon Harris as a weak minister, who is obsessed with media coverage and “runs scared of headlines”.