Irish Examiner view: If you have a role in public life, you ought to be leading by example

Judge James McNulty's comments in Bandon Court will have far wider resonance — and last much longer — than any jail term

Judge James McNulty said: 'If those in authority are lax and careless and non-compliant, what will those in the ranks do? They will be careless and lax, almost as if compliance is an option.' Picture: Dan Linehan

It’s always been possible to feel a twinge of sympathy for Pompeia, the second wife of Julius Caesar. When suggestions of impropriety were unproven, she was promptly divorced by the ambitious senator, who had an eye on becoming emperor of Rome. And she disappeared from history.

“Caesar’s wife” declared her erstwhile husband, “must be above suspicion.” It’s a phrase that has resonated down the centuries and while political expediency may have been at play, the slogan has set a benchmark for corporate responsibility.