Now we know the price for having turned a blind eye to clerical abuse

THE political correctness controversy surrounding the recent remarks of Mary O’Rourke reached ludicrous proportions. The only thing racist in relation to her comments was the criticism.

She was paying black people a compliment when she praised her supporters for “working like blacks”.

The first controversy of this kind that I witnessed was a child in 1953 when the Dominican prior in Tralee made some outrageous remarks during a public address to commemorate the martyrdom of one of his predecessors in 1653 by Cromwellian forces. President Seán T O’Kelly was there.