One thing that Donal Óg need no longer fear — a belt of the crozier

MIKE MURPHY made a stunning statement in his autobiography: “If there is such a thing as the hereafter, he wrote on the second page, “I have no wish to meet either my mother or father again.”

When Gay Byrne interviewed him about the book on the Late Late Show, Murphy explained that his parents did not get on with each other and they basically made life miserable for their children.

Most people probably like to empathise with the characters in any book they read, but few could empathise with Myrphy’s attitude towards his parents because, fortunately, they would have much more positive views towards their own parents.

Although an appearance on the Late Late usually ensured that a book would have strong sales, in this case they could hardly give Murphy’s book away afterwards. So much for the adage that all publicity is good publicity.

In the midst of the current economic downturn there seems to be extraordinary number of new books and anyone highlighting something different risks being accused of just trying to hype their book.

I don’t believe Mike Murphy set out to highlight that aspect of his upbringing as a piece of sensationalism that would ensure a bestseller. He was just telling his story. Likewise, I don’t believe that Donal Óg Cusack has come out of the closet about his sexual orientation in the hope of generating book sales.

This is strictly his own business. Some people appear to have become excited over the fact that he has come out, while others have been particularly supportive.

A great many of those who follow Cork hurling are not surprised, as there have apparently been rumours for years. Of course, there will be many others who will react as they did to the news in 1979 that President Paddy Hillery had called a press conference to announce he was not having an extramarital affair.

There may have been rumours in political and journalistic circles, but the president’s denial was the first that the bulk of the country heard about the rumours. In a sense, however, his open approach killed those rumours.

On one radio programme this week there were details of an obscene chant being directed against Cusack by opposing supporters behind the goal. By coming out publicly he is essentially taking these people on. Maybe the chants will continue, but those making them will find that decent people will no longer think they are funny. Most people are decent and the general public reaction will be to frown on the behaviour of such yobs, just as decent people abhor racial abuse. I have heard no criticism in Kerry of Donal Óg Cusack for speaking out as he has done, but at the same time there seems to be only acute embarrassment at the remarks attributed to Tadhg Kennelly about what happened at the start of the all-Ireland final. It is doubtful that Kerry people would have been more shocked if he had announced that the whole Kerry team was gay.

Some may argue that Irish people are more broadminded these days. They probably always were, but not enough people stood up to the clerical bullies to find out. For decades a few loudmouths were allowed to set the trends because people were afraid to buck them.

Some bishops were among the worst offenders. But their influence has been seriously undermined in recent years by the exposure of their hypocrisy in not just ignoring, but actually facilitating, clerical paedophiles, while lecturing everybody else about moral responsibility.

They got hot and bothered over absurd things such as the nightie affair. In February 1966, Gay Byrne had a bit of a skit in which he interviewed husbands and wives separately and then compared their answers. One question was what colour nightdress the wife wore on their wedding night.

One woman answered that she did not wear anything that night. The thought of a naked bride apparently sent Bishop Thomas Ryan of Clonfert into a spiritual spasm. He publicly denounced the programme and the usual suspects lined up in support.

Loughrea Town Commissioners denounced the Late Late as “a dirty programme that should be abolished altogether” while Mayo GAA county board and Meath committee of vocational education passed similar resolutions.

The following year Bishop Denis Moynihan of Kerry made an international spectacle of himself by denouncing the planned appearance of the busty starlet Jayne Mansfield at the Mount Brandon ballroom in Tralee. Apparently she was going to sing, busting out all over in her usual tight-fitting clothes. So the bishop had an appeal read out at all masses for people not to attend the show. The whole thing was therefore cancelled at the eleventh hour.

When Gay Byrne made a skit of this on the Late Late Show, Tralee vocational education committee formally protested. One local national teacher denounced the Late Late Show.

“To my mind, the sketch was suggestive and immoral and should not have been presented on our national television service,” said Jack Healy. “In a matter of this nature we look to the spiritual authorities rather than to the moralists in Montrose.” He asked the committee to demand an apology from the RTÉ Authority. The superior of the local CBS secondary school did not see the programme, but he said he was sure Healy knew what he was talking about.

Only the local Presbyterian minister dissented from the demand for an apology. The issue was still provoking comment some weeks later when Jayne Mansfield was tragically killed in a car accident in the United States.

THE stupidity in submitting blindly to such episcopal interventions while ignoring seedy clerical conduct is what has led to the forthcoming report on clerical abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.

While all that was happening, the bishops exhibited a perverted sense of morality in covering up paedophile abuse while their lackies sought to abuse Gay Byrne over his programme. Yet the hostility of such people undoubtedly enhanced Byrne’s standing with the general public.

The one person who did confront the bishops head on was Noel Browne. Yet he was always much more popular with the public than with his political colleagues. That probably says more about public tolerance in a most intolerant period.

After Emmet Stagg admitted his gay involvement in Phoenix Park in March 1994, there were a few hours when the public reaction to the story could possibly have gone either way, but Pat Cox courageously took the lead on RTÉ’s Questions and Answers. “All that Emmet Stagg has said in his statement today is that he is a card-carrying member of the human race, and I stand with Emmet Stagg tonight, ” Cox declared. It was a bold and courageous stand.

“There is some merciless bastard who let this story out,” he added indignantly. “I want the Garda Commissioner to find out and to out who the rat is who brought this out into the public in this demeaning and irresponsible way.”

It was a seminal moment in which Pat Cox provided decisive leadership. In his impromptu outrage he advanced the cause of tolerance and true freedom in this republic.