Madam, – Like the rest of the long suffering electoral fodder in this country, I welcome the decision of the Fine Gael deputy PJ Sheehan to resign “with immediate effect” his position as deputy spokesperson on agriculture. The “unreserved apology” issued by Mr Sheehan to the garda involved in yet another distasteful episode of unseemly events in the Oireachtas is in my opinion insufficient, as it was not accompanied by Deputy Sheehan’s resignation from the Dáil.
Such outrageous behaviour in which a member of the Oireachtas was prevented from driving his car because the garda formed the view that he was “extremely intoxicated” and a danger to himself and the public, surely renders one unsuitable for public office. Fortunately, the Fine Gael deputy spokesperson on agriculture wasn’t being interviewed on RTÉ next morning.
Furthermore, if this apology from Deputy Sheehan was anything other than caving in to pressure from media publicity and attempts by the Fine Gael leadership to minimise negative political fallout, why did he wait 12 weeks after the incident to issue the apology? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Last week, in return for making drunken jokes about a garda’s county of origin, a man was told in court to make a pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick (Home News, September 17th). This week we learned that after attempting to drive while drunk, a TD insulted a garda and threatened their career – the TD had to write a letter saying he’s sorry.
Will the TDs be forever treated deferentially? A little fairness would be nice. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Drink driving legislation is tougher on rural dwellers than city folk who get caught because they choose to take the car home, usually on busy roads, ignoring public transport and taxi services. While both may lose their licence for the same time, most city dwellers can still commute to work, socialise and get to the shops, while their rural counterparts have their life utterly destroyed.
PJ Sheehan rightly argued this point as reported in The Irish Timeson June 24th last when he asked Minister Noel Dempsey to show a "bit of leniency for people living in Ballydehob. We have no Luas service in west Cork. Neither have we a CIÉ service every 10 minutes or a taxi service."
So what on earth was PJ Sheehan thinking of when heading home from the Dáil bar? Surely on a TD’s salary, he can afford to leave the car in the free Dáil car park and catch one of the dozens of cabs passing by the gate? What has been missed in the debate on his attempt to bully the gardaí is that he has undermined the position of those who believe that mandatory sentencing for drink driving offences is unfair on rural dwellers.
His folly came to light only because of his threats to the garda. Any of the rest of us trying to pull out of the pub car park after one or two pints would have been bagged, charged and grounded for two years, in the case of rural dwellers, with very serious personal consequences. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – I waited anxiously on Monday for a tweet from Simon Coveney on the PJ Sheehan affair at the Dáil. But nothing arrived. I wonder why? – Is mise,
PAUL DORAN,