Maureen O’Sullivan letter: TD defending the indefensible

INDEPENDENT TD Maureen O’Sullivan has sought to defend a courtroom testimonial she wrote on behalf of a man convicted of IRA membership.

In doing so, she is defending the indefensible, exhibiting poor judgement by showing support for Donal Ó Coisdealbha who had amassed explosives clearly designed to murder Britain’s Prince Charles during his visit to Ireland last year. She is also very naive in declaring surprise that the letter she wrote would not be taken as an endorsement of violence. Even though she did not know at the time he would plead guilty, the Garda evidence against him was overwhelming and already in the public domain.

Instead of expressing regret for writing the letter, the Independent TD attacked the judge in the case, Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, who had, quite rightly, pointed out that Ms O’Sullivan had expressed concern over Ó Coisdealbha’s lengthy remand pending trial but not over his murderous activities.