THE Seanad Leader, Mr Maurice Manning, yesterday strongly criticised a Fianna Fail member for his remarks about the former minister and political commentator, Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien.
Mr Willie Farrell had asked if the state pensions for his time in government and in the Dail were the only things Irish which Dr O'Brien now accepted. He had become an official unionist, observed Mr Farrell.
Declaring that Mr Farrell was on dangerous ground, Mr Manning asked if he was saying that a person who was a unionist was less than Irish or should be penalised in some way. "Your intervention is not helpful and it is far from Wolfe Tone's concept of Irishman," added Mr Manning.
