Eirigi paint stunt was child's play

And so the lunatics have taken over the asylum and so-called ‘elected representatives’ have adopted a mob mentality – what a nasty little country Ireland has become.

That an elected representative like Louise Minihan should resort to paint throwing just to try and grab a bit of free publicity for her very questionable cause is nothing short of pathetic.

Mary Harney is no angel. She has been controversial in the decisions she has made. Our health system is in disarray and she is politically responsible.

But what right has a nobody like Louise Minihan to resort to thuggish behaviour by spraying the Minister with paint as she was turning the sod at a new mental health facility in Ballyfermot?

None. But then what would you expect from a person who managed to get themselves elected under the Sinn Fein banner only then to jump ship almost immediately to the left-wing republican group Eirigi.

If Minihan was in any way politically astute, she would have organised her protest in a more intelligent way rather than behaving like an animal in a zoo.

Yes we all have our problems with the health service. Yes, people are dying waiting for treatment. Yes there is a massive lack of services for the sick and vulnerable in society.

Feelings are running high and why wouldn’t they be.

But if Minihan wanted to change this, she could have used that little Eirigi brain of hers in a more adult way.

Instead she revelled in her five minutes of fame and tried to make herself out as a hero of modern times.

“I could have shot her and I think people would have still shook my hand,” she stupidly said afterwards.

Her behaviour was nothing short of thuggish and the outpouring of sympathy for Mary Harney in this situation has been huge.

Politics aside, that Harney continued with the sod-turning after being childishly sprayed with paint is a measure of the woman’s
professionalism.

For Minihan, it was a publicity stunt that completely backfired.

For Harney, it was a crude signal of the anger that is out there over the cutbacks in the health service.