The ministers and tax-exempt independents who set bad example

WHILE researching High Society, her book on drug use, Justine Delaney Wilson interviewed a Government minister at Buswell’s Hotel, which is just across the street from Leinster House.

She quoted the unnamed minister as saying on tape: “Yes, I do take drugs, just coke though, regularly enough. I am certainly not the only one around here that does. The hypocrisy that surrounds it really galls me.”

Once the story broke, the Taoiseach should not have had to wait for anyone to challenge him on the issue in the Dáil. He should have asked his ministers at the first opportunity if any of them was taking cocaine.