TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has attempted to limit the damage caused by his Morning Irelandinterview yesterday but his performance has put his beleaguered Government under further pressure.
Mr Cowen claimed that Irish politics had reached a “real new low” after Fine Gael transport spokesman Simon Coveney suggested that he sounded “sounded half way between drunk and hung-over” in the RTÉ radio interview.
Rounding on his critics Mr Cowen blamed his below-par radio performance on “a hoarseness in my throat”.
The story was picked up by news bodies across the world including the BBC, the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Daily News, Fox News, MSNBC and Spain's ABC.
Mr Cowen, who was attending the annual “think-in” of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in Galway, was asked by a TV3 reporter if he was aware that radio and the internet were “alive with the belief” he was inebriated or hung-over in the interview.
Clearly taken aback, Mr Cowen flatly denied the claim as “ridiculous” and “uncalled for”. Ministers were equally lost for words but came out later to defend the Taoiseach.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said: “The Taoiseach was very hoarse during the interview, that was very self-evident and very clear. It seems to me that that’s what the issue now seems to be about, that the Taoiseach was hoarse.”
Rejecting suggestions that Mr Cowen had been drinking to excess, he said: “These occasions, there is always a social dimension to them, nothing more than that. Are you seriously suggesting that any person can’t have a drink of an evening-time after a full day’s conference?”
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey told reporters: “I am absolutely astounded that now we are doing interviews about the tone of his voice rather than the actual content of the interview.”
Later at a press conference, Mr Cowen launched a sharp personal attack on Mr Coveney, saying he was “a person for whom I had some respect as a person, as a colleague. I just think it is an appalling and unfounded assertion that he made.”
Asked if he was worried he might be drinking too much, Mr Cowen replied that he was not and cited a Chinese proverb advocating “moderation in everything”.
A Fine Gael spokesman dismissed Mr Cowen’s criticisms: “This is a standard attack-and-distract ploy. The real issue is Brian Cowen’s inability to deliver a coherent and clear messageof hope to the Irish public.”
Mr Coveney issued a further message on the Twitter website last night: “Seems like offering an honest comment on Taoiseach’s interview is now being described as a new low in politics.” Fine Gael finance spokesman Michael Noonan said there were concerns over the leadership of the country, adding: “This can’t continue, the game is up”.
Labour Party TD Róisín Shortall described Mr Cowen’s performance as “inept and unconvincing” and claimed the Taoiseach had been “semi-coherent”. She said Mr Cowen had “offered no hope or no vision”.
Mr Cowen was interviewed at 8.50am yesterday having been up until after 3am following a dinner for Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators and the media at the Ardilaun Hotel. The Taoiseach regaled TDs and reporters in the bar with impressions of prominent Irish personalities.