O’Dea as defender of the indefensible

IT would seem our politicians have perfected the art of speaking out of both sides of the mouth, especially on issues adversely affecting their constituents.

Willie O’Dea has never failed in this respect. I recall his stout rebuttal of suggestions that Limerick was in the grip of violent criminals when it might has been better to come clean and ask for resources to overcome the violent behaviour of a few criminal families before it became a major problem.

He is at it again with regard to the ending of Aer Lingus’s Shannon-Heathrow link. Mr O’Dea knows full well that the Government cannot force the board of a private company to reverse its decision, apart altogether from the political flak it would draw from our new best friends in the North.