After months on my local library waiting list I finally got my hands on ‘Just Mary’ a memoir by former Fianna Fail politician Mary O’Rourke.
On principle, I would not buy the book. It would have made me physically sick to think I had contributed in any way to the wealth of this low grade, gombeen politician.
As I expected the book is nothing but a dishonest, self-serving attempt by O’Rourke to distance herself and her beloved Fianna Fail from any blame for the catastrophe visited upon Ireland and its people by her party.
On what went wrong for Fianna Fail and the country.
The biggest factor in our decline as a party was the blight of the global recession which hit us in 2008.
This is a dishonest claim: It was political corruption that destroyed the country and led to Fianna Fail’s downfall at the last election.
The Progressive Democrats:
O’Rourke claims that loose financial regulation was a key tenet of the PDs and became possible with the cooperation of Mary Harney’s friend Charlie McCreevy.
There is no escaping the fact that some aspects of their central philosophy and the concrete measures which this engendered – such as policies on taxation and financial regulation – undermined our effectiveness during a crucial time in government.
This is a dishonest and sly attempt to put the blame on others.
But most of all, this arrogant and dishonest politician blames the people of Ireland (My emphasis).
Banks can be blamed for speculation but they were responding to demands from the people – ‘It is the people who pressed for such financial facilities.’ Everyone wanted the bigger house, the next holiday the private school for their offspring and so it went on and on.
This is just a taste of the drivel that seeps from every page of this rag of a book.
More analysis later.