Editing David Norris (politician) (section)

==Controversy==
===Fairytale of Kathmandu===
{{see also|Fairytale of Kathmandu#Defence of Ó Searcaigh}}
On 11 March 2008, Norris called for the broadcast of the documentary ''Fairytale of Kathmandu'' (scheduled to be shown that evening on [[RTÉ]]) to be postponed. The film documented visits to [[Nepal]] by Irish poet [[Cathal Ó Searcaigh]], during which he had sex with young boys. It questioned whether he was sexually exploiting the boys or engaging in [[child sex tourism]]. Norris criticised that the film had been [[News leak|leaked]] beforehand and that Ó Searcaigh had been treated harshly by the media before its broadcast. He announced to the Seanad that the film should be checked for factuality because he claimed that "public money" had been spent on it. The issue was conveyed to Deputy [[John Cregan (politician)|John Cregan]], the Chairman of the ''Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 March 2008 |title=Seanad Éireann Debate Vol. 188 No. 22 Page 4. |url=http://debates.oireachtas.ie/seanad/2008/03/11/00004.asp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625050854/http://debates.oireachtas.ie/seanad/2008/03/11/00004.asp |archive-date=25 June 2012 |access-date=24 February 2011 |website=[[Seanad Éireann]]}}</ref>

===2002 ''Magill'' magazine interview===
In a January 2002 interview for politics/current affairs magazine ''[[Magill]]'', Norris discussed the [[age of consent]], [[incest]],  [[paedophilia]] and [[pederasty]].<ref name="radical">{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Helen Lucy |date=January 2002 |title=The Free Radical Page 1 |url=http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/05/DNmagill1.jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804101925/http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/05/DNmagill1.jpg |archive-date=4 August 2011 |access-date=12 June 2011 |website=[[TheJournal.ie]] |publisher=[[Magill]]}}</ref><ref name="radical1">{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Helen Lucy |date=January 2002 |title=The Free Radical Page 2 |url=http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/05/DNmagill2.jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804101938/http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/05/DNmagill2.jpg |archive-date=4 August 2011 |access-date=12 June 2011 |website=[[TheJournal.ie]] |publisher=[[Magill]]}}</ref><ref name="radical2">{{Cite web |last=Burke |first=Helen Lucy |date=January 2002 |title=The Free Radical Page 3 |url=http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/05/DNmagill3.jpg |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804101953/http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2011/05/DNmagill3.jpg |archive-date=4 August 2011 |access-date=12 June 2011 |website=[[TheJournal.ie]] |publisher=[[Magill]]}}</ref> The interviewer, [[Food critic|restaurant critic]] Helen Lucy Burke, said, "I found some of his views on sexual matters deeply disturbing – notably on sex with minors".<ref>[http://sites.google.com/site/norrisarticle/ Extract from ''David Norris: The Free Radical''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008050726/http://sites.google.com/site/norrisarticle/ |date=8 October 2011 }}, ''Magill Magazine'', January 2002</ref> According to Burke, Norris didn't seem to support a minimum age of consent. When asked "Where would you draw the line?" Norris replied, "I would hope we could produce a society where people would be inclined to draw lines for themselves".<ref name="it22oct">{{Cite news |date=22 October 2011 |title=Norris's views on sex between older and younger men broadcast on RTÉ |url=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1022/1224306299793.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025100359/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1022/1224306299793.html |archive-date=25 October 2011 |work=[[The Irish Times]]}}</ref> On 30 May 2011, Burke was a guest on the [[talk radio]] show ''[[Liveline]]''. Burke said that she had read the article to Norris before its publication and that he had wholeheartedly endorsed what was written. During the show, it was noted that the ''Magill'' article had been reported in a newspaper shortly after publication. The newspaper, ''[[Ireland on Sunday]]'', went with the headline "Senator Backs Sex With Children". Burke claimed that, when Norris saw the reaction to the interview, he "back-tracked" and denied saying what had been quoted. She also called Norris' views "evil" and "against the law".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Live line |url=http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-30051138m17slivelinedavidnorris-pid0-2297928.mp3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016112439/http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-30051138m17slivelinedavidnorris-pid0-2297928.mp3 |archive-date=16 October 2011 |access-date=30 May 2011 |work=[[RTÉ News]]}}</ref>

According to Norris, he was only read two paragraphs of the interview before publication, and he asked for corrections to be made to those paragraphs, and these corrections were not made.<ref name="pod1">{{Cite news |title=Pat Kenny interview |url=http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-31051128m34stodaywithpatkenny-pid0-1714224.mp3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016112506/http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-31051128m34stodaywithpatkenny-pid0-1714224.mp3 |archive-date=16 October 2011 |access-date=12 June 2011 |work=[[RTÉ Radio 1]]}}</ref> In a May 2011 statement on his presidential campaign website, Norris affirmed "I did not ever and would not approve of the finished article as it appeared". Norris asserts that he and Burke engaged in an "academic discussion about [[Classical Greece]] and sexual activity in a historical context; it was a hypothetical, intellectual conversation" and that the "presentation of references to sexuality in the article attributed to me were misleading in that they do not convey the context in which they were made".<ref name="Ask David: Magill article">{{Cite web |title=Ask David: Statement on Magill Magazine profile |url=http://www.norrisforpresident.ie/askdavid/magill-magazine-2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601233604/http://www.norrisforpresident.ie/askdavid/magill-magazine-2002 |archive-date=1 June 2011 |access-date=30 May 2011 |website=Norris for President website}}</ref> Norris also spoke about the ''Magill'' profile in an interview with Joe Jackson for the ''[[Sunday Independent (Ireland)|Sunday Independent]]'', in which he refutes the allegations, saying he responded in "horror", and that "it so completely misrepresents everything I said. In the interview I said I cannot understand how anyone would consider it appropriate to have sex with children".<ref name="The Joe Jackson interviews">{{Cite web |title=David Norris – The Joe Jackson interviews 2002 and 2011 |url=http://joejacksonjournalist.com/2010/09/06/david-norris-the-joe-jackson-interview/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602000103/http://joejacksonjournalist.com/2010/09/06/david-norris-the-joe-jackson-interview/ |archive-date=2 June 2011 |access-date=30 May 2011}}</ref>
During the initial interview on 30 May 2011, Burke explained on Liveline that she had "a tape somewhere around but I can't find it, it's twelve years old and I don't know whether it would be viable now". Also, when Burke was asked if she had a tape while being interviewed on ''[[RTÉ News: Six One]]'' on 31 May 2011 by Caitríona Perry, Perry asserted that "despite originally believing that she had a recording of the interview, Helen Lucy Burke is now not so sure". Burke explained, "I don't think so, I thought I had a taped cassette, but it turns out that it was in the one, I wasn't able to open it because it was a different length from the one in my existing cassette box". When Caitríona Perry asked "Do you think you have a tape anywhere else", Burke replied, "it could be under the mountains of stuff that came down when my ceiling came in". In the last days of the campaign the tape was released and according to the ''[[Irish Independent]]'', Ms. Burke "said yesterday she found the tape recently but only released it in the last days of the campaign for "impact." She said, "it would give people something to think about when they went to the polls."<ref name=it22oct/>