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Shane Ross said RTÉ must answer questions about why an interview about his new book Mary Lou McDonald: A Republican Riddle was pulled and denied claims he was opposed to Ms McDonald or her party.
The national broadcaster’s decision to withdraw the interview with the journalist and former independent government minister has caused much controversy this week.
He even made the Dáil, where Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the move was “chilling” in terms of public discourse.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Martin clarified his comments and admitted claims that Sinn Féin had gained access to the interview were inaccurate.
“I got it wrong in terms of previous access,” Mr Martin said on the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk. “The key point I was making is that when political parties start suing the national broadcaster, it really has a chilling effect.
“It’s a bit of a stretch to look at the Shane Ross saga in isolation and say it’s unrelated to the fact that RTÉ are being sued and that there’s a defamation case against them. It really has a chilling effect on media and broadcasters.”
Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Mr Ross said RTÉ had to answer questions about the interview at the Oireachtas media committee.
“I appreciate what he [Micheál Martin] said. I think it is very important that RTÉ is brought into the commission or that a forum is found where they have to answer questions about what happened because what happened was quite disturbing from my point of view.
“It distracted a lot of the story, it was supposed to be the story of Mary Lou McDonald and different areas of her life. It’s not a hatchet job, in many ways she’s a mystery… and I wanted to tell the story of her childhood, where she came from, what makes her work and things that people haven’t heard before.
“I cannot understand why RTÉ are so incredibly defensive about this and what the Taoiseach said is right. It’s chilling that they treat one country differently than others.
“I’m doing an interview with you now and you’ve never asked for any reassurance about this, that and the other, or put anything out of bounds… I’ve done interviews with Newstalk and other stations and nobody has asked for any preconditions at all.”
Speaking to BreakingNews.ie, Mr Ross said RTÉ had to answer questions about the interview at the Oireachtas media committee.
Some doubt that Mr Ross, who was in government while Ms MacDonald was in opposition, and in opposition at the same time as her, is a good candidate to write a biography.
However, he denied claims he was a “political opponent” of Ms McDonald.
“I am independent, I am not her political opponent by right. I was in the government when it was in opposition, but I was also in opposition when it was in opposition. Then we combined extremely well on the Public Accounts Committee, where she was a force for good.
“We worked very hard to hold to account various bodies that got involved, I say very specifically in the book that she was a force for good in this. There’s a chapter called ‘A Star Takes the Dáil by Storm’… so it’s not I’m not her political opponent. The book is critical in places, but also complementary in places.
“In terms of personal relations, they have always been very good, although I haven’t met her in the last year or so. I think that was unfair. I know Sinn Féin would like to control the message and say they didn’t approve of me writing a biography, but it’s much more independent than what would come out as authorised.”
One chapter of the book looks at how Mrs Macdonald and her husband Martin Lanigan financed the renovation of their Cabra home, originally a bungalow.
Some criticized Mr Ross for this, claiming it was an invasion of the couple’s privacy, but he fully defended the “legitimate questions” he asked.
“There are two things here: Mary Lou quite rightly demands transparency from other people. She should set the same standards for herself.
“I’m not suggesting she did anything wrong here, I’m just asking the question: where did the money come from for this dramatic renovation of the house?” In the book there is a very visible set of photos the size of the bungalow when they bought it and it looked finished, it was unrecognizable.
“She didn’t have a large income at the time, she wasn’t in the European Parliament or the Dáil when they bought it, and her husband’s income was also modest. You have to ask yourself this question, you wouldn’t be human if you didn’t say “where did this money come from?”
“There was no sign of it, so I just say, ‘tell us, would you ask other people this?’
Another area of Mrs MacDonald’s personal life that the book covers is her father Patrick MacDonald and various issues in which he was involved.
While Mr Ross admitted she might see this as an “intrusion” into her private life, he said family background was crucial to any biography, adding that some of the incidents involving Mr McDonald , have already been covered in the newspapers.
“I sympathize with her on that, she probably sees what I did in writing about it as an intrusion into her privacy.” The thing is, first of all, her background is essential, for any biography you can’t leave out their parents, siblings or even grandparents, because that’s an important part of their formation.”
In relation to her father, Mr Ross says the privacy problem with him “is the fact that he talks about a lot of these things himself”.
“The trouble he got into was sometimes court cases that got media coverage. I’m not really putting anything new out there, I’m just saying that “this guy happens to be Mary Lou McDonald’s father.”
Mr Ross’s book examines what he describes as the “secretive” nature of Sinn Féin, and he talks about his difficulties in securing interviews with TDs and other party members. Another section describes his efforts to arrange an interview with Gerry Adams.
Mr Ross says he believes the party will have to change if it ends up in government.
“Sinn Féin is a very secretive organization but I wanted to look at its relationship with people who were members of the IRA and see if they had any influence on it.
“It’s something that’s hard to pin down, I think in the past, certainly Geri Adams’ influence on her was very strong and I don’t think it was a force for good. I very much hope that now that she has been released from being his deputy, that she will lead Sinn Féin down a more constitutional path.
“I think their secrecy is a big flaw in terms of transparency, and it’s very difficult for them to demand transparency from others when they themselves are not transparent enough.”
“The discipline with which they resisted giving me interviews, at least openly on the record, was extraordinary and it was unique. This broke down after a while and many of them talked to me off the record.
“They are not ready to go down the path of more openness like many other political parties. Secrecy is their default position, unfortunately, and I think they’re going to have to be a lot more transparent.”
Her Fianna Fáil background is something she constantly tries to downplay.
Another part of Ms McDonald’s career that the book covers is her brief involvement with Fianna Fáil.
Mr Ross said it was something she consistently looked to play down, pointing to an interview with Sinn Féin’s An Phoblacht newspaper in which she said she had never been a member of the party.
“At one stage in An Phoblacht she said she was never a member of Fianna Fáil, in another interview she said she was, so there’s an outright contradiction. Her background in Fianna Fáil is something she has consistently tried to play down. She talked about going to meetings with a few friends, she did a lot more than that, she played a very active role in Fianna Fáil for a short period of time, about 18 months.
“She spoke at the Ard Fheis in 1998, which is an award, and she spoke on the republican side. People in Fianna Fáil remember her very well and this is consistent with what she says about her belief that she is too republican for them, the reason she gives for leaving.
“It would be much better for her to say ‘yes, I was there for 18 months and I played an active role, my family was Fianna Fáil and that’s why I joined’, and she’s more open to it rather than shutting it down.”
Adams’ influence on Ms MacDonald and Sinn Féin is something Mr Ross is looking at in detail and he believes she would be best served in dealing with these issues before she becomes taoiseach.
“The Adams influence is something Mary Lou shouldn’t be embarrassed about. It forced her into a position of great difficulty, in relation to the rape of Maria Cahill, for which she supported Adams’ position, she supported him against Jean McConville, she said she believed him when he said he was not in the IRA Poe question about Slab Murphy she echoed Adams and called him a good Republican.
“She hasn’t broken up with him on these issues, and I don’t think that’s to her credit.” Of course, to get the lead, there was no way he could part with Adams. When and if she becomes Taoiseach, she will be constantly reminded of these things.
“There’s a chapter in the book called ‘Graveyard Game’… constantly going to memorials and funerals, carrying coffins for IRA volunteers. It’s something she’s just going to have to live with and they’re going to hang these things around her neck forever.
“Any uncomfortable questions should be answered at this stage because she will be the subject of increasing attention. While in opposition and at the height of his powers, rather than waiting to enter government. Like everyone in government, she will be attacked from every side every day.
“It would be better for him to come out and say, ‘Look, this was my relationship with Gerry Adams, I did it for various reasons’ and maybe regret one or two, that’s very difficult because people in Sinn Féin never seem to be going back or regretting something about the IRA. As time goes on, maybe they’ll be able to feel a little more remorse for what happened.”
Shane Ross insists his biography of Mary Lou McDonald is not a “work of fiction”.
Mr Ross said the main aim of his biography was to “fill in the gaps” in Ms McDonald’s life and career.
He hopes it will be seen as a fair assessment of the woman who certainly looks to be Ireland’s first Sinn Féin and female leader.
“I spoke to her about it, she wasn’t very enthusiastic.
“This is an unauthorized biography, I didn’t want to write an unauthorized biography. I thought she might have helped me, given me an interview.
“I hope it is seen as independent, objective and balanced.” He gets criticized on both sides, some say “you were too positive about her”, there are good things I said, others say “you were always anti-Sin”. Féin, in opposition’.
“When I was in government they supported the two most controversial issues I championed as a minister, the judges and drink driving, and I got full support from Sinn Féin for both, which I’m very grateful for, much more than I got from most to my Fine Gael colleagues in Government.
“I found them good to work with on these issues, I would like people to know that my relationship with them is good. I hope people will say that this is subjective in parts, very critical of the military side of the IRA and their relationship there, but recognizing that Mary Lou is a good influence in many areas, perhaps particularly within Sinn Féin itself.
“Since the first sentence of the book says, ‘Mary Lou never wore a balaclava,’ that’s a really good thing, and the right kind of person to lead the party.”
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