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Ireland: Just When I Thought I Was Absolutely Right….

Declan Harvey's blogpost last week created a bit of a storm. Today he analyses an honourable Irish resignation.

By Declan Harvey

2 Aug 2011, 18:59

Following last week's blog, I felt it right to briefly update you on events in Ireland since then. It’s a post script, if you will - a post script that has wiped the smiles off many an Irish face.

Senator David Norris the front runner in Ireland’s forthcoming presidential election has pulled out of the race. A country is stunned.

It appears the human-rights campaigner has skeletons in his closet that have come home to roost (mixed metaphor?).

Last weekend it emerged Mr Norris wrote letters to the Israeli government pleading for clemency for his former partner Ezra Yitzhak Nawi who had been convicted of the statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy. Since then his supporters have been seeping into the shadows – TDs (Irish MPs) have been withdrawing their backing.

This afternoon, Senator Norris called a press conference to announce the end of his candidacy. The first openly gay president in Europe will not be Irish, at least not yet.

Well. There you go. Over.

Reports suggest the first letter in 1997 was written on government paper. In a second Senator Norris allegedly even mentioned the fact he was planning to run for president. Inexcusable, if understandable - would we not all be tempted to step in and help the one we love?

Given Mr Norris actually went through with it though, it’s only fair he should fall on his own sword, especially given the nature of Mr Nawi’s crime.

And it’s almost refreshing to see a politician resign over something they’ve actually done or been responsible for. I despair at public figures stepping down because they employed the niece of the second-cousin of a man who once burned a union jack whist walking past an ice-cream van owned by Joseph Stalin’s orthodontist. It almost always follows a sprint by newspaper editors to the moral high ground and rarely results in any tangible benefit.
 
But as David Norris blurred the line between personal compassion and professional capabilities he, arguably, had soiled his bib beyond cleaning. Some say he should have fought his corner but he’s chosen not to.

Ironically – and I have often wondered this – isn’t an honourable resignation the greatest proof of a person’s integrity? Isn’t it evidence of their belief in the sanctity of the office they held or intended to fill? And if so doesn’t it make the public’s loss all the greater? Obviously this isn’t always the case but think about Sir Paul Stephenson.
 
The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s rapid departure from Scotland Yard last month was evidence of his principles and intelligence. His colleagues thought so, the government thought so, the Met’s scrutiny body thought so. He did not want to be the one making headlines and so stood down. I respect that.