The tawdry pursuit of a decent man

Fianna Fáil town councillor Malcolm Byrne from Gorey in County Wexford has been a prolific contributor to the letters to the editor's page of The Irish Times in recent years. As recently as 9 January he wrote of "a very vibrant and healthily cynical media in Ireland which have no problem in exposing political failings and an intelligent electorate which can easily make its judgements on those failings – as well, of course, as on successes."

One can only guess how Malcolm Byrne feels about the media now after his recent experience at the hands of his local newspaper and radio station and a variety of "national" newspapers, most notably the Irish edition of the Sun. For those who don't know the story Malcolm Byrne was "outed" as a homosexual when the newspaper was given details of a personal advertisement he placed on a gay website by persons unknown. Confronted by South East Radio station with this "outing" he appeared to defend himself and his interview was picked up by the majority of the daily newspapers. With some relish too.

The Sun's headline was: "Bertie's FF Man in Gay Web Shame". It mentioned he had cried on radio and put the caption "cry boy" under his photograph. It said he had "touted for a man to satisfy his sexual lust on a homosexuals' sordid website." He had answered a questionnaire on a website, of exactly the type the Sun itself advertises in its personal ads.

As it happens Malcolm Byrne has been known as an active campaigner in favour of gay rights. There was no hypocrisy in his statements or behaviour. That didn't save him from the type of treatment that has characterised the Sun's treatment of Liberal Democrat leadership candidates. After the married Mark Outen had been exposed for using the services of a gay prostitute – or "rent boy", as the 23 year old was called by tabloids – Simon Hughes was forced to confess that "I'm Gay Too" as the Sun front page headline put it. Underneath the Sun chortled that another Lib Dem leadership candidate had "bitten the pillow".

Back in Ireland, it is to be hoped that Malcolm Byrne is not so bruised by his experience as to stop his letter writing to The Irish Times. He wrote on a range of issues, criticising Michael McDowell for example on his introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, and highlighting failures of government policy in his local area.

Most notably, however, he was never afraid to take on Sinn Fein. He didn't merely highlight various IRA atrocities but challenged the double-speak of Sinn Fein spokespeople on issues such as human rights and justice. "Am I alone in feeling a little queasy when Sinn Féin public representatives start to lecture on the subject of human and civil rights?" he asked last August in a letter on the return of the Colombia Three in which he also decried the Colombian legal system.

He also turned his attention to Frank Connolly and the Centre for Public Inquiry: "In any vibrant democracy, there must be a place for think-tanks and for media and others to hold to account those who make decisions about all our lives to account. However, we are also entitled to know the identities of those behind such bodies, their political views and prejudices and any conflicts of interest."

"For Frank Connolly to assume he could conduct searching inquiries into various affairs of state without owning up to his own prejudices and political history or travels represents either a strange naivety or arrogance," he wrote.

Malcolm Byrne, by contrast, may be finding that he was wrong to assume that his own private life could be kept secret from a prying prurient media. His only consolation is that the intelligent electorate to whom he referred are unlikely to be impressed by the tawdry pursuit of an innocent and decent man.