Why hasn’t he resigned?

IT’S disappointing to see the Taoiseach and other ministers closing ranks around Denis Naughten over his secret conversation with a lobbyist.

Naughten’s conversation about a media merger was, at the very least, a major blunder and a huge embarrassment.

His attempt to distinguish between his ministerial position and his ‘personal view’ is thoroughly ridiculous.

In any normal circumstances in a normal democracy, a minister in such a situation and his colleagues would realise that he had compromised himself and needed to step aside. Staying damages the entire Government.

How typically Irish it is for the minister to dig his heels in and for his colleagues to support him. Leo Varadkar likes to present himself as shiny and new, but behind the spin he looks like a tired old political hack. Annette Healy, Co. Kerry.