Sheehan affair shows some things in this great little nation don’t change

ADVANCED age or previous good character cannot be given as legitimate excuses for PJ Sheehan’s boneheaded drunken behaviour in the grounds of Dáil Eireann in early July, as revealed only last weekend.

The Fine Gael TD was wrong and his forced resignation as the party’s deputy spokesman on agriculture on Monday, a day after he had been rumbled by two newspapers and following an apology to his party leader Enda Kenny, hardly seems sufficient punishment for behaviour that was disgraceful on two scores.

One was his effort to drive while incapable of doing so because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed. The second was his threat to damage the career advancement of the young female garda who saved him from breaking the law by bringing his car onto the public highway.