Electing Beverley Flynn

A woman came into work the other day and was giving out about Beverley Flynn, who was in the papers over something dodgy to do with her holiday home- surprise, surprise. We agreed that it was a disgrace that such a person could be elected to the Dail. When I mentioned Michael Lowry as another example, she stiffened and said something like "Oh no, I'm from Tipp and he's done a lot of good work for us down there". It really was a breathtaking double standard.

Stephen Collins in yesterday's Irish Times mentions, with obvious frustration, "the apparent tolerance of a significant segment of the electorate for low standards in high places over the past 40 years". Nowhere is this more apparent than out in Mayo, where Ms. Flynn has just been re-elected. Her shenanigans were before my time, really, so it was pretty shocking went I went to look into it. This woman urged clients to evade tax; when RTE pointed this out, she sued in defamation. She lost and now faces bankruptcy, which would disqualify her for membership of the Dail. To remedy this, she mounts a constitutional challenge to the relevent legislation. RTE can whistle for its money; Beverley has other plans for her hard-earned cash. Laws, like taxes, are only for the little people, it would seem.

The result? Nearly 7,000 first preference votes.

Of course, this kind of carry-on seems to be in the genes. The first time Ms. Flynn was kicked out of Fianna Fail, it was for refusing to toe the line on a Dail motion asking her father, the redoubtable Pee Flynn, to explain his own dodgy dealings. Now welcomed back with open arms, she may take Junior Ministerial office in the lifetime of this government. So in the end, having a neck with more brass than an orchestra section pays off.

What a country. Electing crooks is a traditional part of democracy, of course, but usually the electorate only find out about it afterwards. You're not usually entitled to get caught and then carry on regardless. But in the former playground of Charlie Haughey, I suppose anything's possible when it comes to bog-standard standards in public life.