Norma Foley, questioned by Gript’s Ben Scallan in a virally circulating interview from last Wednesday, shows the extent to which our political class take us for fools.
Questioned about the appropriateness of taxpayer-funded RTÉ promoting a book, titled ‘What’s The T?’, that offered a deep dive into the mechanics of anal sex, ‘sexyfuntime’, for fifteen year olds, she determinedly refused to engage with the question, denied all knowledge of the book, and repeated again and again her belief that parents rather than the state were the appropriate gatekeepers of their children’s reading.
Since then a former politician and government minister, and a teacher, approached Gript to say they had raised concerns about the same book with Norma Foley as long ago as 2023. The fallout from the Gript interview also led RTÉ to reconsider and remove the title from their list of promoted children’s books.
So where’s the truth? The only response from the Minister’s Department appears to be a repetition of the same evasive stonewalling. The question posed by Ben Scallan about the appropriateness of public money being spent on what a lot of taxpayers would consider highly inappropriate material for fifteen year olds isn’t going away. It will be pressed until it is answered by someone else in government, if not Norma Foley. It is important as a stand alone question but it also part of a wider discussion about integrity and accountability in Irish politics.
The kind of performative stonewalling which Norma Foley pushes to the point of parody only works in an autocratic state. While we may be getting there, we are still in the happy position of having a small cohort of independent media and parliamentary opposition able and willing to take a kick at a rhetorical house of cards just like Lewis Carroll’s Alice.
When bluff and bluster are penetrated, the probing tends to continue just as we are seeing now in relation to this particular story. Norma’s glassy-eyed evasiveness in the face of Ben Scallan’s persistence should trigger the interest of even the most naturally incurious.
We know RTÉ, who promoted the controversial publication, is taxpayer-funded but who funds ‘Children’s Books Ireland’, who brought the book to RTE’s attention in the first place ? It’s a question that might never have surfaced if Norma Foley had gone for damage limitation instead of evasion.
‘Children’s Books Ireland’ has a quango-toned ring. And yes it is indeed yet another spin off variant in the crowded marketplace of NGOs that compete for public as well as private money. Private donations are the icing on the cake and appeals for donations hone the image of virtuous philanthropising.
Where ‘Children’s Books Ireland’ are concerned, one may well ask why they need private funding at all when they draw support from a long list of public and corporate bodies? It’s all there on their website. Their state connected supporters range from three government departments including the Department of Children, to An Post, The Arts Council, The Council of Arts Funding Literature, The Community Foundation of Ireland, and Rethinking Ireland among others.
These bodies are themselves in receipt of public funding so why is the taxpayer’s contribution scattered so widely before being channelled back through so many arteries to a single recipient? Whatever the reason, it certainly is not in the service of transparency. There is an air of nebulousness around the whole scenario but the Russian Doll model of opacity is clear enough if it’s not stretching metaphor too far to say so !
It’s also curious that charities -who also receive taxpayer funding- with specific remits like Focus Ireland, DePaul and the Society of St Vincent de Paul also support ‘Children’s Books Ireland’. Strangest of all is the presence of the ESB on the list of supporters. More in their line to do something about the high rates of energy if they want to associate with a worthy cause. INTO, a teachers’ union, is also on the list which isn’t surprising as it’s long been ideologically retro-fitted.
It’s significant that the list of supporters doesn’t include any commercial entities apart from KPMG and Mobility Ireland. One might have expected representation from some of the global behemoths based in Ireland. It must be difficult for approval hunting multinationals to decline to support an agency with ‘Every Child A Reader’ as its mantra?
Whatever questions arise in this regard, this touches the nerve centre of NGO culture. Moral blackmail. It offers the perfect screen to deflect legitimate questions and concerns about how taxpayer money is deployed. Who doesn’t want to encourage children to read? Who doesn’t want to promote reading in public campaigns? The fact that everyone says a resounding YES to such questions doesn’t cancel legitimate questions about transparency and particularly the legitimacy of vested interests exploiting worthy causes for financial benefit or the promotion of a sectional agenda.
Norma Foley’s brand of tight-lipped spin, like her impeccable grooming, signals control, competence and self assurance but it’s pathetically shallow and ridiculously transparent when a journalist is prepared to do what journalists are meant to do.
Yes, ‘what’s the T?’ is really a very good question where T stands for truth, transparency, taxpayers’ money and turning the tables.