New face of Sinn Féin refuses to condemn killers of Jerry McCabe

If Mary Lou McDonald has become the smiling, attractive face of Sinn Féin in recent years, then Toireasa Ferris promises to be the legs.

She certainly got plenty of media exposure after her appearance on the Late, Late Show on 10 February aroused much comment. It seems she suffered what could be described as a "wardrobe malfunction" as, without her knowledge, her short skirt headed north as she sat across from Pat Kenny. For reasons best known to the director of the programme, and his cameraman, they decided to frame pictures of the encounter between guest and presenter so as to show them in full from head to toe.

The reaction of some newspapers to this verged on vulgar and insulting, and was most definitely unsympathetic to the idea that this was an unfortunate accident. And Toireasa Ferris, when I raised the matter with her on Monday evening, was not slow to utterly condemn the Sunday World in particular for its approach to this "story".

Other people, however, were more interested in what she had to say, both on the Late, Late Show and on The Last Word, than how she looked. While many may sympathise with her treatment at the hands of the tabloid media, they contrasted her readiness to condemn the Sunday World in forthright and outraged terms with her absolute refusal to condemn the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe. Then again, few people want to take issue with their father's friends.