Brian Lenihan can’t be off-limits for discussion about the mess we’re in

MARY O’ROURKE was not happy with me and was not slow to tell me why.

I met her last Friday morning at the annual conference of members of ISME, at which she was speaking and I was chairing. She said she had cried the previous Wednesday while watching me on the Vincent Browne Show on TV3 outline the flaws in the performance of her nephew, the late Brian Lenihan, during his time as finance minister and as outlined in my new book How Ireland Really Went Bust. She accused me of attacking a man who is not alive to defend himself.

I disagreed politely, mindful of the fact that the woman must still be grieving. I pointed out that he’d had plenty of opportunities to discuss and defend his performance with me when he was alive. She countered that I hadn’t been “in the room” on the infamous night that the ruinous bank guaranteed was introduced. I didn’t point out to her that she hadn’t been there either. But I did say there has been a deliberate and concerted effort by those who were present to limit what has been revealed, allowing only a small amount of documents to be released under the Freedom of Information Act.