TERENCE FLANAGAN – WHO was unveiled today as one of five sitting Oireachtas members now part of the Lucinda Creighton-led ‘Renua’ party – came in for some stinging criticism on Twitter this evening, after a disastrous performance on RTÉ’s Drivetime programme this evening.
The former Fine Gael TD – who parted ways with his old party during the 2013 debate over the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill – sounded nervous as soon as he came on the line to talk to host Mary Wilson.
He got off to a competent, if unremarkable, start – saying it was a “very historic day” for the country, and stressing that his new party planned to engage “directly with the citizens” in the run up to the next general election.
Asked to explain the Renua ‘pitch’ he referred to a clip the presenter had played of Creighton: “as our leader said in the piece there – we’re going to keep our promises and we’re going to be principled people in what we actually do”.
We want to engage with citizens, we want to ensure that things are done differently than what has happened in the past.
Asked if he was saying that “others in politics at the moment are not principled people” he replied “no”.
What I’m saying is Renua is going to be very different.
He trailed off as he attempted to continue with his answer, with Wilson noting “it is a big day for you” before continuing.
Asked to outline some specific policy plans in the area of health or education, he began, again, to speak generally about the party, before trailing off once again – sounding a little short of breath.
His next answer – to a question about tax cuts for the self-employed – was even shorter again (the TD sounded more and more nervous, the longer the interview went on).
A final query from Wilson – about what PAYE workers could expect from the new party – was met with a moment of silence, before Flanagan responded (quietly).
“For the PAYE workers?…”
From Wilson:
Terence I think we’ll leave it there for now and perhaps we’ll talk to you again about the party on another day.
Response
The tweets of criticism (and concern) began to flow, as the brief interview came to an end.
The consensus seemed to be that he had simply been struck silent with nerves. However, some social media users pointed out that Flanagan has been a TD since 2007 – and should be expected to perform better…
Flanagan – who’s a Dublin North East TD – didn’t return calls from TheJournal.ie, but he admitted to the Irish Independent that it had been a “bad interview”.
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