There was a curious exchange between Marian Finucane and Fianna Fail TD Mary O’Rourke on last Sunday’s show. The discussion concerned O’Rourke’s hypocritical stance regarding the Fine Gael private members’ motion calling on the Government to provide better resources for autistic children.
Marian referred to the following letter published in the Irish Times on Friday 15th Feb.
Madam,
Can there be anything more illuminating about the “sleeveen” politics of Fianna Fáil than to see Mary O’Rourke TD stand up and play to a packed Dáil public gallery claiming she supported parents having the choice of ABA for their special needs children, only to then go and vote against the Fine Gael motion that would have given those parents exactly the choice Mary O’Rourke claimed to support a short time earlier?
For sheer brass neck and hypocrisy you just can’t beat Fianna Fáil and for sheer stupidity you can’t beat the people who, despite this, will still go out and vote for Fianna Fáil.
Yours, etc,DESMOND FITZGERALD, Canary Wharf, London.
The discussion continued;
Marian – Did you see the letter in the Irish Times during the week?
O’Rouke – I did and I know that man and I would prefer to say no more because, well, I’ll tell you after…
Marian – He was talking about the ‘sleeveen politics’ of Fianna Fail
O’Rourke – Did you notice the signature?
Marian – Yes, I did
O’Rourke – Yes, indeed.
This ‘Yes, indeed’ was delivered in a sniffy Queen Victoria ‘We are not amused’ tone.
I have no idea what the connection is between the author of the letter and O’Rourke but clearly the Queen of Hypocrisy is not amused by such impertinence.