Hot Press Interview With John Halligan Causes Major Furore

The interview with government minister John Halligan, published in full in Hot Press today, has erupted into controversy.

Indeed a number of controversies have been detonated by what is a remarkable interview, with different angles being taken by a variety of newspapers and broadcasters. Most prominent has been a reaction to the Minister’s comments about prostitution.

“Why would we want to fine somebody or make it a criminal offence for two consenting adults to have sex? Isn’t it a natural instinctive reaction to enjoy sex, to enjoy pleasure?” he told Jason O’Toole, in Hot Press.
“I’m a healthy man and I have a good sex life, but would there not be lonely men out there? Would there not be men who have a disfigurement or who are disabled? What do they do?
“So, they’re told, ‘no!’ So, there’s an opportunity for them maybe to pay for it and we’re saying ‘no’! That’s cruel. For men or women, that’s cruel. So, I think, absolutely. It should be regulated.”
Halligan has been attacked – on the Sean O’Rourke programme on RTÉ Radio One – by the Catholic Church-backed Ruhama group, who are opposed to prostitution. He is also the subject of an attack by Rachel Moran, who is a former prostitute. However, he remained undaunted on the Sean O’Rourke show, where he also came across as very direct and honest.
The Minister’s views on prostitution, meanwhile, were the subject of front-page coverage in the Irish Daily Mail this morning. Articles also appeared in the Irish Independent, the Examiner, the UK Times, the Irish Sun and the Irish Mirror. There has been significant additional online coverage, with the award-winning blog Cedar Lounge reflecting in a hugely positive way on what is an impressively honest as well as entertaining piece.
Needless to say, the article really should be read in full in Hot Press. There you get a true sense of the man, who comes across throughout as highly intelligent, decent, genuine, caring and progressive. Oh, and it is also clear from the interview, conducted by Jason O’Toole, that he has a sense of humour. It is easily one of the most interesting reads of the year so far in Irish journalism.
“There was a time when politicians here would do anything except say what they really thought,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes says, in an editorial in this issue of Hot Press. “Staying onside was more important than speaking from the heart.”
The mood today is different.
“No one represents the new reality better than John Halligan,” the editorial says. “…There are things about which you might or might not agree with John, but it is a powerfully impressive interview that puts the old way of doing things to shame. His views are intelligent, compassionate and shot through with an appreciation of everyday humanity."