Finian McGrath interview in Hot Press

Out this week – there’s an interview with McGrath conducted by Jason O’Toole. It covers a lot of ground, and much of interest from his political background, to his views on smoking, drugs, the 8th amendment (very briefly) and on to disability issues. Well worth a read to get a sense of how he justifies participation in the government.

And speaking of which, this exchange is interesting:

You got into hot water over not paying your water tax. You were very vocal that you weren’t going to pay it.
It wasn’t a huge issue in my election campaign. I said it on my leaflet – it was one sentence on my leaflet that I voted against water charges.
So, you paid it not to rock the boat?
No minister is above the law, first thing. And number two, I felt it was a distraction to the more serious things I was trying to do. I found myself in a position of being in Cabinet.
My election workers advised me saying, if I was to keep going on like that it would be distracting from cystic fibrosis and heath and disability issues and serious issues. So, I decided to pay the charge.