Chief Whip Refuses to Name Irate Priest

Enniscorthy Guardian
February 21, 2012

http://www.enniscorthyguardian.ie/news/chief-whip-refuses-to-name-irate-priest-3026094.html

CHIEF Whip Paul Kehoe has refused to identify the priest who gave him an ear bashing recently about the Government's decision not to post an Irish ambassador to the Vatican. However, the Minister of State confirmed that he was indeed on the receiving end of a complaint from a member of the clergy.

'It did happen,' commented Paul Kehoe who revealed that the criticism was voiced not at Mass but at what he called a 'function'. He was mystified as to how the matter came to have come to the attention of the national press and refused to elaborate any further on what occurred.

However, he was happy to say that he sympathised with the suggestion that the Republic of Ireland should have an embassy in the Vatican. He suggested that many members of Fine Gael share the concern expressed by the anonymous priest.

'There were reasons for the decision but it is important to have diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the State,' said Paul Kehoe, who was chosen to represent the Government in Rome at the beatification ceremony for Pope John Paul II.