This is Arthur Morgan, TD for the Louth constituency. For his party, Sinn Fein, he holds a watching brief on at least three cabinet level ministerial portfolios being their spokesman on Finance, Enterprise and Trade, and Social and Community Affairs. He’s also a former IRA prisoner having served seven and a half years at Long Kesh prison, where he participated in the blanket protest, before his release in 1984. On the 23rd December last (ie, 20 days ago) Arthur told the Dundalk Argus:
Although he was a party member, he was never an officer, and certainly was never in the running, as has been stated in the media, for nomination as a candidate in the 1997 Dáil elections,’ said Deputy Morgan.
However subsequently unearthed archive material proves that this was not the case… Deputy Morgan has since been unavailable for comment… In the meantime, it’s our intention to post daily bulletins on whether or not the Louth TD emerges to speak to the press… And when he does we’ll relay soonest his explanation for the discrepancy in his statement with the facts…
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty