Ireland-Willie O'Dea TD suffers from amnesia in his diatribe on virtual/ "Sat Nav" politics

Willie O'Dea in an article in to days Sunday Independent savages blogs and discussion forums. He conveniently forgets -that through the medium of his regular Sunday Independent column- he gets priceless publicity to vent political spleen on the opposition. Kilnascully in print. His columns are biased and skewed. Today -as usual- he lambasts the FG party. I see no right of reply in the Sunday Independent for FG . Whether Willie O'Dea likes it or not Blogs and Bloggers are here to stay. They play a major role in US politics and have brought to international prominence atrocities in Burma and elsewhere. Their influence will continue to grow.

Blogs and discussion forums are essential to ensure the maintenance of a healthy democracy. They provide alternative view points especially if these are excluded by the regular media. Politicians such as Mr O'Dea cannot muzzle them-once they adhere to the laws of libel. Hence the hysteria.

This is the politician who claimed that he was concerned at the loss of the Shannon to Heathrow service. In a Dáil debate on the issue O'Dea remained silent despite his continuous criticism of the Government decision in newspapers and on TV. He voted with the Government in the Dail to consign the service to oblivion. He forgot to include this in his opinion piece. He is obviously suffering from a loss of memory. Me thinks he doth protest too much.