Taoiseach’s croaky interview not his worst sin

THE brouhaha about the Taoiseach’s radio interview says everything about the abominable state of our democratic discourse.

Brian Cowen gave a less than convincing radio interview in a hoarse voice after celebrations the night before. The opposition make the most of it. The Taoiseach himself acts the martyr and declares the thing “a new low”. All hell breaks loose in our own media before the foreign media get in on the act. The Taoiseach is guilty of much more serious misdemeanours in being partly responsible for nearly bankrupting the country. He and his colleagues in government make the rest of us pay for their mistakes. For that there is no expression of regret.

Anthony Leavy