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.

Mr O’Dea knew this when he, as a minister in the FF/PD government, voted to privatise Aer Lingus.

This is the same man who is periodically trotted out to defend the indefensible on the Government’s behalf and now finds himself at odds with his cabinet colleagues.

Mr O’Dea, it would seem, not only has a Groucho Marx-style moustache, he also goes along with Groucho’s famous line: “These are our principles and if you don’t like them, we have others.”

MC Roche

11 The Downs

Maryborough Hill

Douglas

Cork