Senator David Norris announced that he would re-enter the Presidential race on The Late Late Show.
Rónán Burtenshaw
Deputy Editor
Senator David Norris announced tonight on RTÉ’s ‘The Late Late Show’ that he was to re-enter the race for the Áras.
It had been rumoured that Senator Norris intended to use the show as a springboard to relaunch his campaign since the Sunday Independent ran a story headlined ‘Norris to re-enter race for President’ last weekend.
In his interview Senator Norris used the analogy of a “bloodied boxer” making a comeback to describe his Presidential campaign. “Irish people love a comeback,” he said, “and this would be the greatest comeback in Irish political history”.
Ryan Tubridy pressed Senator Norris, previously the front-runner for the Presidency, on the issues that had “de-railed” his campaign. Norris spoke about sending the letter pleading for clemency for his former partner Ezra Nawi, who had been convicted of having sex with a minor. He said that this letter had been solicited by Nawi’s lawyers and that he had sent it out of “love”. Without making an explicit apology the Senator then moved on to defend Mr. Nawi, calling him a “good” man and pointing out his reputation as a prominent human rights activist.
Tubridy then read a quote from an article written nine years ago from an interview journalist Helen Lucy Burke conducted with Senator Norris. The Senator said that he had asked that the quote, “there is something to be said for classical paedophilia” be changed before the article went to print. He was, he said, unwilling to return to the “academic” topic of pederasty in ancient Greece on the Late Late.
Instead the Senator questioned why he was constantly being drawn into discussions about sex and sexuality. He responded sternly “no” when asked whether he would condone sexual relations between adults and minors. He did say, however, that consideration should be given to age of consent laws between two minors close in age.
Senator Norris also sought to place the discussion of sex and sexuality in the context of his growing up as a “criminal” in Ireland. He compared the abuse of gay people in psycho-medical institutions in generations past to the “affectionate” care afforded by an older, gay man. This issue, he said, was to be considered against the backdrop of a stigmatised section of Irish society who felt “alone”.
Moving on to discussions about the viability of his relaunched candidacy, Senator Norris said that he “wouldn’t tell” how many signatures he had out of the twenty necessary. He went on to say that he respected those who had withdrawn their support, praising Waterford TD John Halligan for his stand in the Dáil for the rights of TalkTalk workers. Rejecting accusations of a “conspiracy” against him, he said that he would not hold any grudges over his campaign.
When asked “where he would be this time next year” by Ryan Tubridy he responded “serving the people”. “As I always have done… Because the people are more important than the system.”
