Jason O'Toole (journalist) - Controversies

Controversies

He has conducted many high profile controversial interviews with well-known and sometimes controversial Irish figures, including:

• John Gilligan - Ireland's most infamous criminal spoke at length to O'Toole about his life of crime and the murder of crime journalist Veronica Guerin. After the publication of the interview, Hot Press was banned from Irish prisons. The Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, described the publication of the Hot Press magazine interview with the convicted criminal as “regrettable”. Ahern added he had been in contact with the head of the prison service and it was his understanding that O'Toole had signed into the Midlands Prison as a visitor and did not reveal that he was going to carry out an interview. He was responding to criticism by Fine Gael's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan who urged the minister to enforce rules to prevent further interviews being carried out: “It is an insult to victims of crime to allow convicted criminals to enjoy such privileges while serving time.”

• Brian Cowen - In his May 2007 interview with Jason O'Toole, former Minister for Health Brian Cowen admitted to smoking marijuana: "Anyone who went to the UCD bar in the ‘70s that didn’t get a whiff of marijuana would be telling you a lie. I would say there were a couple of occasions when it was passed around – and, unlike President Clinton, I did inhale! There wasn’t a whole lot in it really – (it was like) a Sweet Afton, as a 10-year-old, under a railway bridge on a rainy day, in small town Ireland in the late ‘60s. I certainly got more enjoyment out of a few pints." This provoked much criticism from opposition parties in the Dáil. Cowen later became Taoiseach following the resignation of Bertie Ahern. Cowen gave O'Toole his first major interview as Taoiseach, which appeared over two editions in Hot Press.

• Ian Paisley, Jr. - In May 2007, DUP's Ian Paisley, Jr., MLA, caused uproar in an interview O'Toole in Hot Press by publicly denouncing acts associated with homosexuality. This was the year before Iris Robinson, wife of then-First Minister Peter Robinson, made her thoughts on the issue. In an interview with Jason O'Toole, he said "I am pretty repulsed by gay and lesbianism. I think it is wrong. I think that those people harm themselves and - without caring about it - harm society. That doesn't mean to say that I hate them - I mean, I hate what they do". Dolores Kelly, the SDLP equality spokesman called on the Northern Ireland Assembly to censure Mr Paisley, saying "Ian Paisley is a junior minister in the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister, the department which is charged with promoting equality and bringing forward the Single Equality Bill. Vulnerable groups who are potential victims of discrimination should be able to look to him for help, not attack". However, the DUP denied that Paisley Jr.'s comments were discriminatory.

• Charlie McCreevy - A December 2008 interview with Irish European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was the subject of news stories and other commentary in The Irish Independent, The Irish Star, The Irish Mail, The Irish Mirror, The Irish Times and the Mail On Sunday, among other papers. It was covered extensively on radio, on RTÉ News and in other television including TV3's The Political Party. Internationally the interview was covered by the Wall Street Journal and the Morning Star, and the main news in Denmark featured it, as well as Das Journal in Austria, Diário Digital in Portugal and France's leading daily paper, Le Monde. The interview, conducted once again by O'Toole (this time in Brussels), had McCreevy say that Ireland's decision to reject the Lisbon Treaty had to be respected by the rest of Europe. McCreevy also revealed that he was pro-choice when it came to matters of abortion.

• Katy French - In her last major interview before her tragic death in December 2007, French spoke to O'Toole about her life, her thoughts on drugs and death. The interview became a regular source of information for newspaper reports in the aftermath, and was revisited by O'Toole in the Hot Press Annual 2008 which went to press just as she died.

• The Royal Blackmail case - in April 2009, O'Toole conducted the first ever in-depth interview with Ian Strachan, who received five years for his involvement in the Royal Blackmail scandal of 2007.

• Patricia McKenna - In an interview with O'Toole in May 2009, former Green Party MEP announced her decision to quit the party and run as an independent candidate in the Euo elections. McKenna gave a hugely controversial and provocative critique of the Green Party's performance since entering coalition with Fianna Fáil. McKenna was particularly scathing about the Green representatives in Government, dismissing the Greens in the Dáil as "nothing but hypocrites". She continued: "I feel embarrassed about being a member of the Green Party ... because of what we said in the past and the promises we made, which we failed to deliver on. I just knew that I couldn’t run under a Green Party ticket and pretend that everything was alright because I’d be lying."

Other controversial interviews O'Toole conducted for Hot Press include:

• Paul Gogarty TD. In an expletive-laden interview with O'Toole, the Dublin Mid West Green TD made comments on the price of power and his own doubts about the Coalition arrangement. He describes it in terms of the Greens lying “bollix naked” and being “screwed” by Fianna Fáil.
• Tony Gregory, the TD's last ever in-depth controversial interview was published days after his death in January 2009. In the final months of his battle with cancer, Gregory sat down with the author to discuss his life and career. Knowing it would be his final interview he was in a reflective frame of mind.
• Dutchy Holland, gangster, last ever interview.
• Alan 'Fat Puss' Bradley. The alleged bank robber insisted he is not a ‘big player’ in crime in his only ever print interview with O'Toole. But the man dubbed "Fat Puss" was due in court in 2009 on charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, with figures between €950,000 and €2 million being bandied about in the media.
• Paddy McCann, Ireland's longest serving political prisoner. McCann was jailed for the killing of two Gardaí during a bank raid in Roscommon in 1980. In this extraordinary interview, McCann confesses to ordering executions from behind bars.
• Richard Bruton - in an August 2009 interview for Hot Press, which was one of O'Toole last interviews for the magazine, Richard Bruton admitted that his party leader was "wooden" when it came to sound bites. It prompted the media to speculate a leadership challenge - and prompted the bookies to slash odds on Bruton becoming FG party leader.
• John Noonan, former IRA boss. Noonan, who played a pivotal role in the IRA’s military campaign in Northern Ireland, gave his only ever interview to the author. The article prompted over 100 Garda, according to the Sunday Times, to raid Noonan’s home and launch a CAB investigation into his activities. In the interview, Noonan said rumours of a CAB investigation into his finances were unfounded and claimed to run a licensed security company.
• Kieron "Wolfie" Ducie, gave his first major interview to O'Toole
• Giovanni Di Stefano, Italian personality
• Rosanna Davison, former Miss World. In a confessional interview, Davison discussed her sex life and her famous father’s affair with the nanny. She also talked in the interview about being married to her father in a previous life.
• Mick Pyro, lead singer of Republic of Loose
• Declan Ganley, Chairperson of Libertas
• Bobby Storey - O'Toole conducted the first in-depth interview with Bobby Storey, alleged to be the IRA's Director of Intelligence, in June 2009.
• Jonathan Rhys Meyers - the interview, which directly preceded the death of his mother, had Rhys Meyers reflecting on his problems with drinking, his spells in rehab and discussing life as a movie star; the actor was arrested in Dublin Airport only hours after this interview was conducted.
• Mary O'Rourke, former Fianna Fáil deputy leader, told O'Toole how orgasms are no longer a part of her life since her husband died.<
• Gerry Kelly, ex-IRA. In his first ever in-depth interview, Kelly gave O’Toole an extraordinary frank account of his time with the IRA.