Very serious allegations against politician goes mostly unnoticed

Ivor Callely used forged documents to claim almost €3,000 in Dail expenses.

This is the first line in a story by Luke Byrne in the Irish Mail on Sunday.

It’s an extremely serious allegation, even by the very low standards of honesty within the Irish body politic.

But even more disturbing is the very low key reaction by the mainstream media.

There was a very short interview with Fianna Fail TD Mary O’Rourke on RTEs News at One (1st report) in which she was asked some totally irrelevant questions.

Can the Taoiseach remove him from the Seanad? How damaging to politics is Callely’s continuing presence in the Seanad? Should he be thrown out of Fianna Fail?

No questions relating to political corruption, fraud, crime, police, arrest – no anger, no sense of outrage – just bland questions by the state broadcaster to a member of the most corrupt political party in the country who replied as if this was the first time she had heard of such behaviour.

RTEs flagship news broadcasts Six One and Nine News made no mention whatsoever of the allegations and as far as I can ascertain no report appeared on their website.

Today’s Irish Times and Irish Examiner merely regurgitated the RTE Mary O’Rourke interview.

Perhaps Michael Noonan could ask the Gardai to make the case a political priority?