Political spouses’ supporting role is vital to the health of this society

There was definitely a hint of regret for Pat O’Malley that she hadn’t been able to fulfil other ambitions, writes Victoria White.

“I SOMETIMES wonder why it is his head which has to go above the parapet,” Des O’Malley’s wife Pat told me in a Limerick hotel a quarter of a century ago.

Pat, who died last week, was in election mode. The Fianna Fáil/PD government formed three years before had fallen apart when Albert Reynolds told the Beef Tribunal that Des O’Malley was “dishonest” in stating that Reynolds had exhibited favouritism towards Larry Goodman as minister for industry and commerce.