The wife of former Supreme Court judge Mr Hugh O'Flaherty said yesterday that the intense media attention visited upon her husband in the wake of his nomination to the European Investment Bank had caused great discomfort to his family.
"Everybody that has anything to do with the media knows what they have done to us. People can judge for themselves. I really have very little to say," Mrs Kay O'Flaherty told RTE's Marian Finucane during her radio show.
"It's very difficult. We have four children . . . they adore their father. To see him treated the way he is by every part of the media . . . is unbelievable. Every night I go to bed, I say, `My god, what's tomorrow going to bring in the papers?' " she added.
"We're very, very normal people. We were a very, very happy family until 14 months ago. This has really caused us havoc." Mr O'Flaherty was a decent and compassionate man, she said.
"He is full of integrity but read any of the papers and listen to any of the programmes and you'd think he was a criminal. All he's done in his life is to be kind to everybody," she said.
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