Dublin Report Debate on private, public morality takes center stage

John Kelly

Even jaded couch potatoes, unfazed by successive startling revelations about low moves in high places, were forced to sit up and take notice of the hilarious political craic of the last few weeks.

It was not just the spectacle of David Trimble, vowing to resign — yet again — as Northern Ireland first minister, unless the IRA lays down its arms. The threat was entirely predictable, especially since the Ulster Unionist Party leader is about to slug it out in the most critical British general election of his career.

Nor was it the enthralling left jab from the British deputy prime minister, John Prescott, that landed flush on the jaw of a heckling egg-hurler in North Wales as the election campaign swung into action.

The melee that followed enjoyed a massive media and broadcasting sequel. One TV station claimed it received 15,000 calls, 60 percent of them supporting the burly 62-year-old politician.

Even hizzoner, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is enjoying colorful coverage in the Irish and British media, who, like their New York counterparts, have been dissecting his domestic life, such as it is.

There is also the little matter of the election of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister. It seems that he has owned most of the country for the last decade or so. Now he is unleashed to rule it as well.

And, not for the first time, Bertie Ahern occupies center stage — he and his high-flying companion, Celia Larkin.

What should have been a routine good will gesture from the Irish government to our newest cardinal, Desmond Connell, turned out to be one of the most embarrassing occasions for the coalition Irish government.

Ahern and Giuliani would he seem to have a lot in common.

Larkin is the "other woman" in Ahern’s life. The couple has ravished an entire acre of timber in the national newspapers because of the controversial invitation to Connell.

Ahern’s estranged wife, Miriam, from whom he is legally separated, recently sold the former family home in the wealthy north county suburb of Malahide. One of their two daughters is the long-term girlfriend of Nicky Byrne, one of the stars of the Westlife boy band.

Larkin once worked closely with Ahern in his northside constituency office, where she was noted for her ambition and aggression. She is the sort of person who gets what she wants. In that respect, she is a suitable match for Ahern. Combined, they form a very tough duo.

Both are now celebrated by the increasingly liberal elite, which dominates a large cross-section of the Irish media, print and broadcasting.

The taoiseach was invited to Rome by the Vatican for the elevation of Cardinal Connell. Larkin’s name was omitted, although it has since been reported that an invitation was sought but refused. This has been denied by a spokesperson for Ahern.

Whatever about the truth, Ahern told the Cardinal that a reception would be held in his honor in Dublin, hosted by the government.

There would have been no problem except that the invitation was reported to have been issued in the names of Celia and her partner.

One senior member of the Church of Ireland, the main Protestant body on the island of Ireland, the dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Rev. Robert McCarthy, publicly declined to attend.

He did so because he considered that the invitation suggested that Celia and Bertie live in a quasi-marital basis.

The subsequent rumpus has led to major all-around embarrassment and has engaged the country in something of a national debate on the place the "other woman" should occupy in the public life of a major political figure.

Cardinal Connell was caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place.

It was inconceivable that he could have followed the line taken by the Protestant dean of St. Patrick’s. To refuse the invitation would have been unacceptable. To accept might have suggested that he was even slightly in favor of the relationship between Ahern and Larkin, a relationship that the Catholic church rejects.

The protocol was extremely delicate. In any event, the cardinal did attend. But in the course of his speech he expressed the traditional line taken by his church on the sanctity of marriage in the role of the family, a message he has consistently delivered throughout his priestly life.

At no time was there any personal criticism directed against either the taoiseach or Larkin.

Some priests took the opportunity offered by the controversy to voice their views on the theological pros and cons of offering Communion to people in such unorthodox relationships.

It has now progressed to the point where the more liberal, frequently anti-Catholic sections of Irish people have vehemently attacked their perceived view of the attitude of the Church attitude toward "irregular relationships."

The minister of state in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Liz O’Donnell, has emerged as one of the most vocal of the critics. In a hard-hitting public statement, she harshly criticized the church for what she described as its failure to deal with pedophile priests and institutional abuse.

She also claimed that thousands have left the Roman Catholic church because of its conservative attitudes.

Whatever about the moral aspects of the newest national controversy, the mess has come about at the wrong political time for Ahern and Fianna Fail. The intimate personal nature of the row emerged just as the main political parties were setting out their stalls on the Nice referendum concerning the enlargement of the European Union.

The taoiseach can only hope that the electorate keeps its eye on the main ball. Fianna Fail and he want the referendum passed. The vote will also provide a good indication of just how they might succeed or not in the next general election.

Personalities can cloud political issues.

Ask Rudy Giuliani.