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LEADER COMMENT: Bigger issues than the Willie O'Dea situaton face Limerick
IT will have come as no surprise to those who know Limerick and its people that there has been considerable sympathy and support in the city and county for Willie O'Dea in the days following his dramatic resignation last Thursday night.
His popularity among a huge section of the local electorate was never going to be seriously affected by the circumstances that saw him leave ministerial office. The Kilteely man won 19,082 votes in the last general election, cultivating that support with tireless fervour. Such is his prodigious work rate that he will have performed some kind of personal service for a considerable percentage of those voters.
In Ireland, services rendered to constituents equals No 1 preferences at the ballot box and it is arguable that nobody in the history of Irish politics has made this reality work for him more than Willie O'Dea. But it would be unfair not to point out that others have consistently voted for him because they see in him a man who has devoted his entire life to public service, a politician who works exceptionally hard for his constituents.
As the controversy raged throughout last week, public opinion in Limerick appeared to swing from day to day. It seemed every radio and TV station in the country sent a reporter onto the streets of Limerick and while some of those who provided soundbites condemned Mr O'Dea outright, others suggested he had somehow been "set up".
Even among Willie's Limerick devotees, however, there was a broad acceptance before his resignation that the former Minister for Defence had been wrong to slander a political rival and wrong to swear a High Court affidavit which falsely denied that, in his interview with Limerick Leader reporter Mike Dwane, he had linked Sinn Fein's Maurice Quinlivan to a local brothel.
But once he was obliged to fall on his sword, many in the O'Dea camp chose to put those initial reservations to one side. It is an admirable quality in Limerick people that they rally around one of their own in times of trouble, and down the years countless sons and daughters of our city and county have benefited from this generosity of spirit.
Even prominent local members of the Fine Gael party such as Michael Noonan and Mayor Kevin Kiely expressed sympathy for the former minister on a personal level, while not condoning the actions which cost him dear, both financially and politically. Others in Limerick and beyond portrayed him as a victim, to use the word he employed himself in that now infamous interview with the RTE radio presenter Sean O'Rourke. That is all well and good, but serious issues lay at the heart of this matter and they cannot be conveniently set aside, just because the man taking the fall is Limerick's most senior politician.
For Limerick and the Mid-West there was also the extremely serious consideration that the O'Dea resignation meant Limerick has lost its only Cabinet minister, at a time when there has never been a greater need for an influential voice to speak up on behalf of our region and make things happen.
Regrettably, for the time being at least, we no longer have such a voice. There are three Limerick candidates for the Cabinet position now vacant and for the sake of our county we hope Brian Cowen chooses one of them. But in apportioning the blame for Willie O'Dea's downfall, some decided to lay it at the Limerick Leader's door. Such a charge has no basis in fact.
For 121 years, this newspaper has argued passionately on behalf of the people we serve. We have no political axe to grind: we care only about what is best for Limerick and the Mid-West generally. Nobody who knows anything about this region could disagree that we have a desperately serious situation on our hands. Our city centre – once the heartbeat of the Mid-West – is in deep trouble.
Job creation by Government agencies is close to non-existent, and the recommendations of Denis Brosnan's task force have been ignored. Promises about the regeneration of housing estates that shame this country have been disgracefully broken. Shannon airport – once a powerhouse – has seen passenger numbers drop alarmingly.
It is the job of a serious newspaper to hold politicians to account, to hold them to the promises they made when they were on the canvass trail. In recent weeks we reminded Willie O'Dea – the biggest political player in the region – in the strongest possible terms that the Government is failing our region and that if he is to have any kind of legacy he needs to spend less time at the parish pump and more doing somethng to positively affect the bigger issues faced by the city and county he was elected to represent.
There were several factors which ultimately brought about the resignation of Willie O'Dea, the biggest of which was political. Those who seek to blame the Limerick Leader for the loss of the Cabinet seat would do well to re-examine the key facts in the matter.
Briefly, they are these: for reasons known only to himself, Willie O'Dea failed to consult this newspaper before swearing a High Court affidavit which suggested that our reporter had made up the offending allegation. Journalists have nothing if they do not have their integrity. Amid mounting and misleading speculation about the contents of the reporter's tape – including an entirely false suggestion that Willie O'Dea had asked for it to be destroyed - we released a transcript of the interview and subequently the tape itself.
As an impartial newspaper we showed no favour to either side in the legal dispute. It is not part of the job description of a journalist – as we understand it – to act in a way that protects politicians, no matter where they come from or what party they represent. The Limerick Leader acted responsibly at all times . As some national commentators have pointed out, ultimately the integrity of our journalist depended on him being able to produce the tape.
Willie O'Dea is moving on from this unfortunate business and so is everybody else. Some have said he will never return to the Cabinet: in our view there is every possibility that he will prove them wrong. He is an immensely capable politician, with a formidable intellect that few in Brian Cowen's Cabinet can rival. But if he does return, we will be reminding him again that we need him to see the bigger picture. The same goes for all politicians who are privileged to represent the people of Limerick in the Dail.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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