Terence Flanagan reviewed work/life balance after ‘brain freeze’

Renua Ireland TD Terence Flanagan said he reviewed his work/life balance after having a "brain freeze" during an excruciating interview with RTÉ Radio last month.

The Dublin North-East deputy said he had been working hard on setting-up the new party led by Lucinda Creighton and was "completely exhausted" by the time the launch arrived.

Mr Flanagan was unable to complete answers and cut off some responses mid­sentence when he was interviewed by Mary Wilson in April. On Sunday Mr Flanagan returned to national radio to explain to Miriam O’Callaghan what had happened.

“The words just weren’t there. They weren’t forthcoming. That’s unfortunately what the listeners heard or didn’t hear as was in my case,” he said.

“I think what happens was sometimes the body gives up when you’re pushing it too hard... I was working flat out for six months. I was in the constituency, I was in the Dáil and all that I suppose took its toll on me.

“As a consequence of what happened I had to review my whole work/life balance.”

Mr Flanagan lost the Fine Gael parliamentary party whip as a result of defying the Government's stance on abortion legislation. He served as an Independent TD before signing up to Renua.

His interview last month provoked a huge reaction on Twitter, with a lot of sympathy from many contributors about a “car crash” radio interviews.

A clearly nervous Mr Flanagan began with general comments but was unable to answer more specific questions asked by the presenter.

When asked about why policies had not been revealed in key areas such as health and education, Mr Flanagan responded by saying there were a lot of areas that had been included in party policy, and referred to compassion and solidarity before his answer tapered off.

The leader of the Green Party in Britain Natalie Bennett had a similar experience when interviewed on LBC radio in London recently. She was unable to explain how the party would fund 500,000 council houses it had promised to provide.

She said afterwards that she had had a “mind freeze” during the interview.