There were two minutes of shouting at a Kildare County Council meeting yesterday when a Sinn Fein councillor described Irish Times columnist Kevin Myers as a "diabolical bastard". Mr Paddy Wright was commenting on last Saturday's Irishman's Diary by Mr Myers.
Mr Myers, writing on planning matters, had said Johnstown village near Naas was on "the point of ruination" because of the corporate endeavours of Kildare County Council and An Bord Pleanala.
Councillors agreed that the county secretary should bring Mr Myers's remarks to the attention of the Flood Planning Tribunal. The columnist had claimed that a friend of his was told by an influential person that rezoning of agricultural land might be possible if the friend paid £25,000 each to four councillors in a Leinster county (not Kildare).
Mr Wright said Mr Myers's "despicable writing" was an attack on councillors in Kildare and everywhere else in the State. "I don't know why it is called An Irishman's Diary, he has lambasted the 1798 rebellion and the 1916 Rising," said the Athy-based councillor.