Tag Archives: Maria Bailey

Playwright Colin Murphy’s column in the Sunday Business Post at the weekend

In the Sunday Business Post at the weekend, playwright and columnist Colin Murphy wrote about the coverage of Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey.

He wrote:

In school, we called this a pile-on. Online, it’s called a shaming. The journalist Jon Ronson wrote an illuminating book about this, So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, where he tracked down people to whom this had happened.

This emerging culture of online shaming “felt different to satire or journalism or criticism”, he wrote. “It felt like punishment.” This punishment may not have been intended by those contributing to it, but it was real.

…Maria Bailey gave us all a laugh. For those who perceive her party as out of touch, arrogant and reeking of privilege, #SwingGate was symptomatic of a broader malaise.

But it is not a significant political or policy story. Linking it to the ‘compo culture’ issue is valid but unenlightening; most of this linking of it has merely been self-righteous political opportunism.

The newspaper failed to mention that Mr Murphy is a brother of Fine Gael TD and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.

Further to this…

ucancallmecaroline tweetz:

Should journalist state a conflict of interest if they have family members related to political parties when writing political articles.

It’s time to back off: Bailey has been punished enough (The Sunday Business Post)


From top: Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell (left) with, Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown Councillor John Bailey and his daughter Maria Bailey, a Fine Gael TD, canvassing during the Local Elections on May 16; Eamonn Kelly

The Maria Bailey story has more legs than a bag of creepy crawlies. Though it is in danger of reaching saturation point, it is still delivering all kinds of oddities.

A commentator on Broadsheet directed us to a Wiki page on John Bailey, Ms Bailey’s father, a Dalkey publican and a Fine Gael politician who has an interesting past in terms of false claims and deceitful practises, along with defences of his actions not unlike Maria Bailey’s defence of her actions.

To win votes in the 2007 general election John Bailey apparently circulated a letter mocked up to look like a Fine Gael directive from the top, the deception reinforced by featuring a photograph of Enda Kenny, the letter instructing people to vote Bailey No 1, for party vote management reasons.

The deceit was later described by the Fine Gael director of elections as a “serious breach of party discipline and unity.”

In 2009, when constituents were protesting about building work in Dun Laoghaire golf club, Bailey wrote to the constituents to say he had objected to the planned development. An Bord Pleanala said no such objection was made. Bailey said it must have got lost in the post.

It later emerged in stories from the Sunday Business Post and the Sunday Tribune that both Bailey and his daughter Maria, had received election donations from the builders engaged in work on the golf course.  Bailey denied that these donations had any bearing on his failure to object to the development.

The point here is, that he took time to actually write a letter to constituents deliberately designed to mislead and give a false impression of where his loyalties lay.

In 2009 Bailey again set out to deceive Fine Gael with another letter, this one designed to block a rival’s daughter from involvement in the selection process for candidates for Fine Gael for the Dun Laoghaire constituency.

The selection convention was cancelled at short notice when three sitting Fine Gael candidates, Bailey being one of them, declared their unanimous view that they should be the only three candidates running in the ward.

The FG executive council agreed. The side-lined candidate sought a court injunction against Fine Gael for failing to follow its own procedures. The case was settled out of court.

In 2010 the Irish Times reported that Bailey had received donations from another building developer which he failed to declare to the Standards in Public Office Commission.

The Sunday Tribune later reported that he had also received undeclared donations from the developers involved in the Dun Laoghaire golf course development. Bailey pled innocent and characterised himself as a hard worker and straight-up Joe. A misunderstood good egg.

In 2013 Bailey created some fake news by designing a leaflet to look like it stemmed from the local Dun Laoghaire Gazette, endorsing Bailey. The Dublin Gazette group sought an apology. Bailey refused and said he didn’t see what the big deal was about.

The big deal was about breaching a newspaper’s copyright in order to deceive the public by passing off a forgery as an editorial in order to gain political advantage.

Fine Gael said they could not condone or support the attempted deceit. Nevertheless, they did accept it, and no action of any consequence was taken against Bailey.

Bailey was involved in sports administration and similar legends pepper his career in that area too, mainly around his apparent ambition to manage the Dublin football team.

He eventually did get to be appointed team manager of the Dublin Hurling team for a short time, after the manager was removed following a string of dismal performances. Bailey was installed as interim manager but the Dublin hurlers refused to train under him.

Bailey threatened to have them all barred from ever playing for Dublin again should they refuse to accept him as manager.

In other words, the good egg threatened to destroy their sporting careers unless they accepted him in a role that he clearly did not earn on sporting merit, but had politicked himself into. The players refused to accept him anyway and he was subsequently replaced.

What is striking about all this is that such a track record has gone unpunished by the Fine Gael party, self-proclaimed upholders of all that is righteous.

A party who represent the privileged and denigrate the ordinary person at every turn, both in terms of attitude and of policy, creating a society where the privileged get all the breaks, while the ordinary people foot the bills and carry the guilt and the burden for failed policies, on the often intimated charge that they have been “lazy” or “weak”.

Clearly Fine Gael are prepared to put up with the sort of moral example the Baileys provide, simply for political expedience.

Then it turns out that Maria Bailey is a second cousin of Simon Harris, the minister currently taking on the task of wrecking the Irish Health service in the interests of privatisation; and though they are said not to be close, the relationship illustrates the small world of the Irish elite. They are in a sense, our 1%.

Maria Bailey said in the RTÉ interview with Sean O’Rourke that the affidavit claiming she could not run competitively for three months after the swing fall was “a mistake”.

But was it a mistake simply because she was caught in a contradiction?

How does that sit with Leo Varadkar, after all the press he created to convince people that welfare fraud was rife? A charge roundly rejected by a former social welfare officer.

It was claimed in The Journal today that a Fine Gael ‘source’ said that they “did not envisage that she [Bailey] would be expelled from the party, stating that would be an ‘overreaction’…”

Instead, the punishment will be that she will lose the privilege of chairing a committee, on housing, of all things. This amounts to a financial loss too, since the role delivers a $9,000 stipend. Losing the chair is a kind of fine, in a way.

But in Ireland over the last couple of years, 11,000 people per year were taken to court for TV license evasion, surely a lesser offence, and often one committed by poor people as a result of straitened circumstances.

Maria Bailey said that it is a personal “tragedy” for her and her family. A family whose patriarch has himself a record in deliberate deceit.

Which begs the question, is this an isolated case, or does the Bailey saga represent a trend among the privileged?

Are the Baileys just overtly careless about displaying an attitude that may have wider, if more circumspect acceptance, among a certain class of people? Or are they freaks?

Maria Bailey supported Simon Coveney in the leadership election that saw Varadkar take the helm. These people are only a few steps removed from serious political power and influence in Ireland.

That should give everyone, including Fine Gael, pause for thought.

Eamonn Kelly is a freelance journalist,

Yesterday: Always looking For Someone’s Manager

Meanwhile…

‘Never Drink & Swing’

A topical new game by Simon Darcy.

Play NOW

Thanks Bibi Baskin

Meanwhile…

From  left: Maria Bailey, Kate O’Connell and her sister Mary Newman-Julian

Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell changed her Facebook photo mere moments after her friend and colleague Maria Bailey’s interview with Sean O’Rourke.

The Dublin Bay South TD’s ‘cover photo’ was a picture of her with her sister Mary Newman-Julian, a Fine Gael election candidate for Tipperary, and her close friend Maria Bailey.

It had been her Facebook ‘cover photo’ since March 24.

But at 10:32am on Monday morning she switched it for a group photo without the now-controversial figure.

De-profiled: Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell removes Facebook photo featuring friend Maria Bailey minutes after RTE interview (Independent.ie)

From left Maria Bailey TD, Kate O’Connell TD and Simon Coveney at an event in the Dean Hotel (cough) in Dublin during Mr Coveney’s Fine Gael leadership bid, May 21, 2017

In fairness.

Earlier: Can’t. Hold. On. Much. Longer

Meanwhile…

Ah here.

Pressure grows on Maria Bailey to step down from Oireachtas committee (Irish Times)

Yesterday: I Found Myself On The Floor

UPDATE:

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, she explained how the incident happened, saying she was holding a bottle of beer in her hand and was reaching for her friend’s bottle of wine when she fell from the swing.

In Circuit Court proceedings she accused the hotel of negligence as the swing was unsupervised at the time of the incident on 10 July 2015, the year before she was elected to the Dáil.

The Dún Laoghaire TD, who is the chairperson of the Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, has withdrawn her legal action.

Ms Bailey ran a 10k race three weeks after the incident with the swing. She posted on her social media accounts that she had taken part in the race as she said that she “had nothing to hide”.

She said: “I had to lock myself away for three days this week and I couldn’t go home” because of the media attention over the story”.

Maria Bailey says she only wanted to recoup medical expenses (RTÉ)

Transcript to follow.

Earlier: A Limerick A Day

UPDATE:

Seán O’Rourke: “Maria Bailey, Fine Gael TD for Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown, good morning to you.”

Maria Bailey: “Morning, Seán.”

O’Rourke: “It’s often said there’s no such thing as bad publicity. You have got an awful lot of publicity in the last week – most of it in fact, virtually all of it has been bad and it has led to you deciding to drop your case against the Dean Hotel for negligence. You were looking for damages and also medical expenses – as result of an incident there a couple of years ago.

“Just tell me: Why have you decided to drop this case?”

Bailey: “Just to be clear, I’m not looking for damages. I was only looking to have my medical expenses recouped. And I was never looking for compensation. So what unfolded for me, this week, and I will say Seán this has been a hugely distressing, intrusive, abusive week that my family and I have succumbed to, completely unwarranted through leaked documents last Sunday.

“I received a phone call last Sunday from a journalist who had a lot of private, medical information about me, Seán and I don’t know about you but when you go to your GP, do you want people to know why you’re there?

“And he basically said to me, ‘I need a comment’. I said ‘this is a live case, I can’t prejudice that case’ and he knew that. And the response was, ‘well if you don’t, I have to fill a story’. Now that’s not a level-playing pitch.

“And as somebody who grew up on the sideline of a GAA pitch, I play fair, I don’t play offside.”

O’Rourke: “This though was presumably information which he acquired, or she acquired, through court documents.”

Bailey: “So we were at the very early stage here of preliminary exchanging documents, discovery documents. This case was only for listing, it was a closed file, it was not for the public information.”

O’Rourke: “Were there political dirty tricks involved?”

Bailey: “I’m not going to cast aspersions on air because that’s not the way I play. I will deal with that in my own way.”

O’Rourke: “Would it have been done and I obviously can’t ask you to name any names because we wouldn’t be able to publish those anyway, or broadcast them, but was it done from within your own party or from another party?”

Bailey: “I’m not going to cast aspersions, Seán.”

O’Rourke: “OK.”

Bailey: “I play fair.”

O’Rourke: “Fine.”

Bailey: “Unless a person is hear to defend themselves, I wouldn’t do that.”

O’Rourke: “I’m not asking you to name anybody but it does, it is a matter of interest that you believed this happened. You say you know this happened but you won’t say whether this happened within your own party or…”

Bailey: “This was, this was methodical, this was well-orchestrated, this was pre-planned to cause maximum damage and I am the collateral damage, in the interim, of that. And what unveiled after that, on the Tuesday, I had decided myself that I was going to withdraw the case because I didn’t want to be a distraction and I was advised, and rightly advised, that that would be seen as a cynical move the week of the local elections.

“And not because I had done anything wrong by the way – I was hurt. I have medical expenses. Nobody, nobody questions that here.

“And the reason it took such great traction here, Seán, is I am the subject of clickbait. So it was trending so well and I have to say, well done, like I handed them a fantastic headline, I accept that.”

O’Rourke: “OK, but hold on a minute, when you say, you know, you want to play fair and so forth, what about your party colleagues up and down the country?

“A colleague of mine this morning, from County Monaghan, saying she met a local Fine Gael councillor in that part of the country saying ‘we got an awful lot about Maria Bailey’. I mean did you give any thought to what they had to deal with on the doorsteps?”

Bailey: “Seán, I have been through numerous elections. They are highly emotive times. You are absolutely worn out, flat tired by the last week. An election is not won in the last week or lost in the last week.”

O’Rourke: “Yeah but you could have pulled out. I mean, like, did you look for advice from within the party?’

Bailey: “Absolutely. Looked I seeked advice, legal advice as well, I was told it was seen as a cynical move.”

O’Rourke: “Sorry was that the political advice or the …”

Bailey: “No, the legal advice. And regardless, regardless of that Seán, the papers were still going to print…”

O’Rourke: “But did you ring for instance. Did you ring somebody like Tom Curran, the general secretary of Fine Gael?”

Bailey: “Seán, I’m not going to name people here. I don’t do that.”

O’Rourke: “Did you come under pressure from the Taoiseach or anybody in the party…”

Bailey: “Absolutely not.”

O’Rourke: “OK.”

Bailey: “It was a private matter. This happened long before I was a TD, I was a councillor at the time.”

O’Rourke: “Right, now, can I just go back because you have an understandable grievance that what was a private matter, medical reports and so forth became public, nonetheless, you know, that is what happened.

“Can we go right back to the night in July of 2015. What happened?”

Bailey: “As you know, Seán, I’m not a big social animal. I rarely go out to be honest, I’m quite happy to sit at home, pyjamas on, on the couch with the kids. But I went out that night. We met at my friend’s house in Sandyford, we had a glass of wine each, we hopped on the Luas and we went to a bar/hotel that had just recently opened.

“We purchased a drink each at the bar which we didn’t consume, we went up in the lift, we saw the swings, nobody was drunk, nobody was messing. They’re like polished wood, these seats.

“I sat on them. I did have a bottle of beer in my hand and the next thing I knew I was on the floor.”

O’Rourke: “OK, one bottle of beer in one hand?”

Bailey: “I had my beer in my hand and then I was reaching for my friend’s, I had a bottle of wine, she was taking her camera out of her jacket. I then found myself on the floor, I was mortified. I jumped up because I was just mortified. I went to the bathroom with two of my friends to assess, I had a few cuts and grazes, whatever. I went down to the reception, I asked for some plasters.

“And at all times, I will have to say to you, and during the last, during the course of this, the hotel have always been respectful and very decent.”

O’Rourke: “Just clarify one thing: Did you have something in each hand when this happened?”

Bailey: “Seán, that would have been a case for the judge to adjudicate on and I’m not going to get into..”

O’Rourke: “But what is your recollection?”

Bailey: “Seán, I’m not opening a trial here.”

O’Rourke: “But, people… it’s a legitimate question to ask you because this, you came here to talk about this whole case and why you dropped it. Now for you not to be able to tell me and you’ve dropped the case so the question of a judge doesn’t actually arise.

“I’m just simply asking you to tell me what happened.”

Bailey: “Well actually it does, it actually does, Seán, and I’ll tell you why it does matter. Because I believe in our judicial system in this country and I believe the proper place for that is the Four Courts.”

O’Rourke: “But you’re not going there now.”

Bailey: “And let me tell you why I’m not going there. So due to the unbelievable abuse – I wasn’t able to go home for three days last week because journalists were sitting outside my home. That is an invasion of my privacy and humanity has been crossed.”

O’Rourke: “OK, but just to go back to the bottles.”

Bailey: “Let me just, can I just say this, Seán, to you. Let me be very clear here. As a state, we need to decide who our judicial system is here: is it the media or is it the courts? The media were judge, jury and executioner in a leaked document, a partial leaked document…:

O’Rourke: “Hold on now…”

Bailey: “…that was not finalised.”

O’Rourke: “There were not just the media writing and reporting on it as is their perfect right. There were former senior ministers, including a former Attorney General who spoke about it in the Seanad, Michael McDowell.”

Bailey: “He should know better. It was a live case.”

O’Rourke: “You had [Fianna Fáil leader] Micheál Martin…”

Bailey: “He should know better too, without fact, these people should know better without fact. These are legislators.”

O’Rourke: “But you were an irresistible target now…”

Bailey: “Absolutely…”

O’Rourke: “….Now, what I want to go back to is…”

Bailey: “…hands up to that.”

O’Rourke: “How can you sit on a swing and hold bottles in your hand and presume you won’t fall?”

Bailey: “Seán, I was injured, I am the one who suffered an injury. I never claimed for compensation. The hotel agreed to pay my medical expenses. I ended up in A&E the next morning. Nobody else got hurt here, except me. I never said I stopped living. I never said I stopped walking.”

O’Rourke: “Explain one thing to me…”

Bailey: “And it’s not my attitude. Three weeks later, I went through intensive physio for three weeks and as somebody, it’s well documented that I am an avid runner, it is well documented out there, I’ve never hidden from that. And running is a cornerstone of my general well-being and keeping me medicated to offset cluster migraines. I went through intensive physio and like any athlete, I wanted to dip my toe into the water, to see if I could do it.

“Now I paid the price for it that night and I regretted doing it and I had to go through…”

O’Rourke: “So you’re confirming that, within three of weeks of this happening…”

Bailey: “I never denied that, I put that on my social media…”

O’Rourke: “But, first of all, sorry clarify one thing: the date on which this happened because…”

Bailey: “The date is wrong in the affidavit and I have instructed my solicitors to correct that.”

O’Rourke: “OK, so it was actually the 10th of July and not on the 13th.”

Bailey: “The Friday, yeah.”

O’Rourke: “OK, so you, three weeks later, after intensive physio, you ran in a 10km.”

Bailey: “..and pain medication.”

O’Rourke: “And ran a good time. But is it not the case that, in your statement of claim, you said that you weren’t able to do any running for three months?”

Bailey: “No, sorry yes, it is in the claim and that is wrong because, and I’ve instructed my, and this, you see, this is where it’s dangerous – when you cross legal documents at an early stage, the plaintiff has every right to amend those particulars prior to it going to a judge and a judge can adjudicate in due course on that.”

“So I was the one who put it on my social media. I had nothing to hide here.”

O’Rourke: “Indeed.”

Bailey: “Seán, you know me as somebody who’s upfront and with integrity.”

O’Rourke: “But just tell me aswell, I mean you were at a festival, a music festival within a week of this happening?”

Bailey: “I went to Marlay Park with my friends and I sat on the grass and I watched a band and I left and I went home. I never said I locked myself away in a monastery. Like this is a joke. You know, I had to lock myself away for three days this week and couldn’t go home. I am a public figure and I accept I am held to a higher standard. I fully accept that.

“But I also expect due process.”

O’Rourke: “Of course. Tell me this much, Maria Bailey. In what way do you believe the hotel was negligent in this?”

Bailey: “Seán, that would have been for a judge to adjudicate, that is not for you or me, that would have been…”

O’Rourke: “I just want you to tell me, I want you to explain to me…”

Bailey: “Sean I’m not a legal person, I took legal advice on this and I put every faith into that legal system and I was told I had a clear-cut case.”

O’Rourke: “Do you believe the hotel should have had a supervisor there?”

Bailey: “Sean, that legal case was put forward, right, that’s what you do when you put forward a case. What I’m saying to you is, I asked a number of months back ‘do you know what, is this worth the hassle, is it worth the hassle?’ because to be honest I just want to get on with my life …

O’Rourke: “I know but…”

Bailey: “I was told ‘you have nothing to fear’, and I distinctly asked ‘when will this information become public?’ so I can prepare myself for it being out there.

“And I was told ‘this will not be public until you are before the courts’ and I was perfectly fine with that.”

O’Rourke: “But why have a supervisor at a swing?”

Bailey: “Seán that is a legal…look, this is Michael McDowell being ridiculous here. This case was a live case, he was being sub judice, and he should have known better.”

O’Rourke: “The fact is, though, it’s out there, it’s out there now.”

Bailey: But it’s out there … can we roll this back? Can we roll this back a little bit here? In my 15 years elected, one week, one week of my career, somebody has tried to character assassinate me and my family and the invasion of privacy that I have had, and they’re trying to negate all the good work that I have done. I am so passionate about my job I am not bowing down to keyboard warriors and bullies.”

O’Rourke: “But it’s not just keyboard warriors, you have brought this on your own head.”

Bailey: “Seán, I did nothing wrong, I am fully entitled, if I was injured, to bring a legitimate case.”

O’Rourke: “If you have filed court documents suggesting that you weren’t able to run for instance for three months…”

Bailey: “They have been amended, Seán…”

O’Rourke: “…and it turns out you have been running within three weeks and running a pretty good time.”

Bailey: “Yeah, well, not for me, but…”

O’Rourke: “This raises questions in the public mind, presumably, you know, you had some input into, into the, you gave information to the legal advisers.”

Bailey: You’re filling out an affidavit three years after the incident, Seán, right? And you do that with the best of intentions, but you know that prior to that going before the judge that you can amend that affidavit. This was a deliberate leak to cause maximum damage. I’m not quite sure was it to me or to the wider party. I’m still evaluating that.”

O’Rourke: “That well may be the case, but the question also has to be asked: was this a deliberate attempt on your part to get money to which the validity of the claim was dubious…”

Bailey: “Seán, Seán, it was my medical expenses that are verified, you’re only talking, €6,000 – €7,000 here. I’ve absorbed those costs already.”

O’Rourke: “Do you have private medical insurance?”

Bailey: “Yes, I do.”

O’Rourke: “So why get the hotel to pay those medical expenses?”

Bailey: “Because the hotel offered to pay and your private medical doesn’t cover your entire medical costs. Everybody knows…Seán, look, I don’t doubt myself. I know exactly who I am. OK? I have always been somebody who shoots straight, who plays on a level playing field here. I had a legitimate case and a judge would have adjudicated on that.”

“What I and my family have been subjected to is incredible, the distress, the abuse, I had to come off all social media.”

“I couldn’t drop my kids to school even though I had great support and that, because I didn’t want to bring attention on myself. I had to lock myself away and work from home this week with the exception of going into the Oireachtas to do my job.”

“The media, and one in particular, have crossed the line of humanity and invasion here, and I’m a public figure, my family are not.”

O’Rourke: “That’s the reason why, for instance, you are a public figure. You had the chance to stand up and be a bigger person and say…”

Bailey: “Seán, I was hurt … I was genuinely hurt. Like anybody with back injury knows, anybody with a back injury knows – you can be fine for a while, you can sneeze or you can get out of bed the wrong way, and your back is sore, it is a constant management of back. And I absolutely am regimental with that.”

O’Rourke: “And nobody is questioning whether you were hurt or not, the question is: where does the responsibility lie for that?”

Bailey: “A judge, a judge. Our judicial system is in the Four Courts. It is not judge, jury and execution by the media. Who are journalists accountable to? I am accountable to the people, they will make their own decision. But who are journalists accountable to?”

O’Rourke: “Coming right up to yesterday, the Taoiseach said on the This Week programme, Leo Varadkar, your party leader, that you had done the party reputational damage as a result of the publicity surrounding this case in the run-up to the election. What do you say to that?”

Bailey: “I think yesterday was a big day for a lot of people and a very tough day for people who weren’t elected. I stand firm in the belief that I take responsibility in the sense that my name was on this case.”

“I don’t take responsibility that three weeks prior to this being leaked that this wasn’t a deliberate attempt to have massive impact in the last week of the election on this party.”

“Yesterday and the day before, the Greens did absolutely well, a clear message was sent to us to act faster on this issue [climate emergency]. In my own constituency we retained the seats that we have. In my own constituency.”

O’Rourke: “So are you saying you didn’t do the party reputational damage?”

Bailey: “No, I didn’t say that. What he said was it would be hard to quantify. Seán I am a long time in politics. I looked at the exit polls, and the main reason that people vote for local politicians in local elections, not normally really national issues, but in this case partially it was, it was on meeting the candidate.

“It was on their work ethic, it was on what they were going to deliver for their community. They were the main reason why people voted for their local candidates.”

O’Rourke: “Well, that’s true but there are two things cited where Fine Gael were concerned – one is your situation, the other is the comment by the Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy, where he said people would be ‘excited’ at the idea of shared living and that appears not to have gone down well. But can I ask you this: It’s reported in the Independent, which broke this story last week…”

Bailey: “Yeah, same journalist…”

O’Rourke: “It’s understood Mr Varadkar is minded to refer the episode to Fine Gael’s executive council which has the power to expel you from the party for a period of time…”

Bailey: “Yeah, like I mean, after the week I’ve had I’m loathe to believe what I read in the paper.”

O’Rourke: “But nothing has been contradicted about what was in the paper.”

Bailey: Sorry, it’s been taken out of context. And without my side of the story because they knew I couldn’t talk about it. That is not a level playing field. That’s an injustice.”

O’Rourke: “But you can talk about now because you dropped the case but still you won’t give us the detail though on what exactly happened – were you holding two bottles?”

Bailey: “Seán, I am not doing trial by media over the airwaves here.”

O’Rourke: “No I just asked you to tell your story.”

Bailey: “I have done nothing wrong here. Seán…”

O’Rourke: “I’m not saying you did anything wrong…”

Bailey: “Seán, I was hurt. I was hurt. And I am a citizen of this State too.”

O’Rourke: “But what about the fact, that of all the issues – aside from housing and waiting lists – insurance is a hot political potato, we’ve had people sitting in this exact seat in which you’re sitting now Maria Bailey who have been at their wits end, on the verge of tears and sometimes beyond that, at the kind of challenge they’re faced with, the bills they’re getting because of the compensation culture.”

Bailey: “That’s because of fraudulent cases, Seán. Mine wasn’t. Don’t muddy the waters here. Mine was legitimate. I took clear legal advice on this. I am not a legal expert. I followed the legal advice that I got.”

O’Rourke: “Did you go to the current Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan about this? Neither you, nor she were members of the Dáil at the time. Was she involved in advising you in any way?”

Bailey: “I don’t see any reason in answering a question like that. That has nothing to do with this now. This case is gone, this case is dropped. I was with Madigan Solicitors.”

O’Rourke: “And was she involved in advising you?”

Bailey: “I’m not going to get into that Seán.”

O’Rourke: “We need to say again that the hotel denies any liability in this case. It’s not going to be judged now but over all it’s clear that you feel hurt, you feel aggrieved …

Bailey: “No, Seán, what I really feel here is, I have worked so hard for my career, I am a working parent of two children, that balances work and home life. I am representative of today’s society in a changing world. I have a clear voice and a clear mandate in Leinster House that I want to fulfil my role.”

O’Rourke: “What about the people who say you might not be fit to represent Fine Gael, because it’s a party of integrity, a party of doing the right thing.”

Bailey: :Can I be really clear on this, because there is a silver lining to this, I am very clear who I am as a person.”

“I am very clear what my values are, and I am very clear in being an honest person and I stand over that. But the silver lining to this for me and I have been reflecting on it, on an incredibly tough week that I now want to put behind me and move on and get on to what I want to do, especially around regulating home care and things like that, is I have learned a huge amount about me, about dealing with adversity, about media, social media, the impact that it has on public opinion, on people’s mental health, on their wellbeing, but most of all I’ve learnt a lot about people.

“And I will be reflecting on that. But I am a strong female politician, and some people don’t like that.

“And I will not bow down or be bullied by words that are in print that I didn’t have a balanced debate on because it was a live case and I will not be bullied by keyboard warriors.”

O’Rourke: “Are you fearful about having to meet the Taoiseach and having to explain all this to him?”

Bailey: “Absolutely not. Clearly not.”

O’Rourke: ” Do you think you might be thrown out by the executive council or suspended?”

Bailey: “Absolutely not. No I don’t Sean. Look, the Taoiseach knows me as somebody who’s hard working and integral [sic] and I see the Taoiseach on a regular basis, right, and I go to him all the time with policies and if he looks to meet me this week, brilliant, I will use that opportunity to come forward with my proposals about regulating home care, affordable housing and other areas that I’m looking at.”

O’Rourke: “Were you not at least naive in thinking it could stay private.”

Bailey: “Possibly I was, possibly I was, Seán.”

O’Rourke: “Finally, how do you move on from this?”

Bailey: “I am drawing a line in the sand on this today, and I am moving on, I am back in the Oireachtas tomorrow I have a really busy week. I have the Minister for Housing is coming in around Rebuilding Ireland. I chair the Committee of Chairs with the Taoiseach coming into meet the chairs, and I put my head down and I work.”

O’Rourke: “Maria Bailey Fine Gael TD for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, thank you.”

Bailey:Thank you, Seán.”

Earlier: A Limerick A Day