Yesterday in the Sunday World journalist Richard Sullivan called for me to resign as Minister for Social Development because I had commented on an incident involving the Young Conway Volunteers flute band on 12 July.
I had indeed commented on it originally on this blog and my comments are there on record. I do not intend to respond to Richard Sullivan's distortion of what I said because it doesn't merit a response. However his column does reinforce a comment I made about shoddy journalism. Sullivan says:
Minister McCausland claimed they did not intentionally stop outside a building which bore a stature of the Virgin Mary over the door and which has been there for nearly 140 years.
I assume that he meant 'statue' not 'stature' but I do suggest that he stop outside St Patrick's on some occasion and take a look 'over the door'. It is certainly not a statue of the Virgin Mary, as even the most cursory glance will show. The statue over the door has a bishop's mitre and a long flowing beard and I haven't seen too many statues of the Virgin Mary with a long flowing beard!
It is of course a statue of St Patrick and I would have thought that he might have got a clue from the name of the church ... St Patrick's.
He may also be interested to know that the Portland stone statue was the work of the Dublin firm of O'Neill & Pearse. The Pearse in the firm was actually James Pearse, the English father of the famous Irish republican Patrick Pearse.
Perhaps in future Richard will remember the difference between stature and statue and the difference between St Patrick and the Virgin Mary. On yes ... and then he wonders why I spoke about shoddy journalism!
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