TD withdraws compensation case: The right call

Though Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey has decided to withdraw a €60,000 claim against a hotel after falling off an indoor swing during an evening out with friends she may, in the fullness of time, regret ever taking it.

She may not, like J Bruce Ismay, owner of the Titanic, feel the need to spend the rest of her life in seclusion in Connemara after the unsinkable ship sank.

However, the court of public opinion expressed itself so forcefully on her compensation claim that she would require exceptional robustness, exceptional self-confidence not to wonder if she had not made a grave misjudgment by taking the action.

That the episode will resurface anytime that anyone checks her profile online can only sustain all that to valid questions.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the court action was a private issue but that he will speak to Ms Bailey about it this week.

If that response seems contradictory it is because it is.

Ms Bailey, who insists she was seriously injured, is entitled to the same legal protections as everyone else — just as the public is entitled to expect high standards in high places.