Fergus Finlay – Politician of the Week

I suppose I should whisper it softly in case I embarrass him, Fergus Finlay is a very good friend of mine since about 1983. So when he makes public his aim for the Park, I have to say I am delighted and hope that he is successful. This guy is a really clean decent person. He is a Labour loyalist but not too blindly loyal.The “too” in that sentence is not random or accidental. fergus was a superb adviser and writer for Dick Spring as Tanaiste. He is a committed social democrat and what you see is what you get. He is not rich and only bought his house after the rejectorate in Kerry send Dick to Fexco. I know his family very well and they are wonderful people. Fergus’s mother is a real character having appeared on the Late Late Show herself – Lillian Roberts – because of her success as an author. Of later years Fergus discovered golf; not however men’s golf. He was deeply involved in the Mary Robinson for President campaign and also in the Adi Roche campaign and wrote a book on the Mary Robinson victory. “A Cruel Trade” was the title of a political triller that he wrote. He has been involved in two special olympics organisations. For the past few years he has written a weekly column in the Irish Examiner on Tuesdays and also recently in the Evening Herald on Saturdays.

He moved from Public Relations at Wilson Harnell to the CEO seat at Bernardo’s Children’s charity. he has pressed for a referendum on children’s rights for years. Recently, he lost three stone weight for charity.

Mary McAleese has been a most successful President, maybe even the best so far. I have been very impressed to watch her live in Ballymun a few times.She has great emotional intelligence unlike Gordon Browne ( or so Tony Blair says). If the criteria for doing the job well is to be defined, then Mary McAleese would make a good template.

Fergus Finlay also has charisma and buckets of emotional intelligence. For the next President of Ireland, I give you Fergus Finlay.