Cathal McCarron sat down with Ger Gilroy for a tense and riveting interview on Off the Ball this evening.
They spoke about McCarron's chronic gambling addiction, the fevered mind of the compulsive gambler, the violent episodes that feature prominently in the book, and, finally, the thorny matter of the 15-year old girl he met on Tinder.He spoke about how the addiction hooked him in his teens and led to him almost taking his life in his 20s.
Exchanges took an extremely tetchy turn when Gilroy addressed the issue which forced the cancellation of McCarron's Late Late appearance.
To skim over those events again, the father of 15 year old girl who McCarron had met on Tinder in October last year. In his book, McCarron said that the girl had claimed to be nineteen and had sent a picture of what she said was her car - a red Jaguar. He said that she told him she was in college and studying a business course. When they met up, McCarron said the girl looked to be 19 or 20 and called the incident "the most innocent misjudgement he ever made."
The girl's father viewed the matter differently and lodged a complaint. McCarron was interviewed by the Gardai late last year. This summer, the DPP said they accepted the "honest mistake" defence and would not be pursuing the matter. Tinder requires a legal age of 18 and the girl's registered birth date on the app showed her to be 19 years of age. The girl's father, who was deeply angered by he book, told the Irish Independent that she suffered a breakdown after meeting McCarron and had spent time in a psychatric unit in Tallaght Hospital. She is currently on psychiatric medication.
In an interview with Balls.ie's Gavin Cooney at the beginning of November, McCarron described himself as "a victim" in the and said that he didn't feel any responsibility for what the girl was going through.
Read that interview here.
Before addressing the matter, Gilroy read out the statement that the girl's family.
As a family, we have been deeply impacted by Cathal McCarron's actions. My daughter has been damaged and affected. We feel he has never shown any remorse for his actions. In his autobiography and in subsequent interviews, he was afforded the opportunity to say how remorseful he was for his actions but he failed to do so.
The family said they hoped that McCarron would be "held accountable" for his actions.
Ger Gilroy: What's your response to that Cathal?
Cathal McCarron: No response. That's all I'm going to say about that.
Ger Gilroy: You've no reponse?
Cathal McCarron: I don't no.
Ger Gilroy: You said in an interview...
Cathal McCarron: Look, I was fully investigated by the law of Ireland and there was no prosecution. There's a reason why there was no prosecution.
Ger Gilroy: Dyou know why there was no prosection?
Cathal McCarron: Why's that?
Ger Gilroy: Because of the honest mistake defence. It's our understanding that the DPP because they accepted the defence of honest mistake. But they do also accept you had sex with this girl.
Cathal McCarron: Right, okay
Ger Gilroy: That's a fact, is it?
Cathal McCarron: No, it's not a fact. I won't be commenting on it anymore.
Ger Gilroy: So, you did have sex with this girl?
Cathal McCarron: There's no comment.
They later addressed the previous interview with Balls.ie in which McCarron described himself as "a victim" because his book launch was cancelled.
Ger Gilroy: You don't see yourself as a victim, do you?
Cathal McCarron: No... you see, that was a headline taken up. What I said is I had family and friends coming from all different parts of the world (for the book launch). I have been through a hell of a lot these past three years. And for you or anybody, you'll never understand what I've been through. From trying to take your own life. To being on the edge of taking your own life. Don't tell me you understand. Because if you've never been there, you'll never understand.
Ger Gilroy: What has that to do with the 15 year old?
Cathal McCarron: You're asking me, am I a victim. I wanted to have all that time with my people that I loved. To be honest, when I released the book, I didn't care about the whole publicity or doing the PR, all I wanted was that night with my family and friends and that was taken away from me.
Ger Gilroy: But you can still have that night. You're not actually a victim. Do you feel that you are stil a victim?
Cathal McCarron: Did I say that?
Ger Gilroy: Well, you did say that, you said it in an interview with Balls.ie.
Cathal McCarron: Right.
Ger Gilroy: So, you don't feel you're a victim. You're taking that statement back.
Cathal McCarron: Look, I don't want to talk about this anymore.
McCarron refused to say he was taking back his statement that he was "a victim" but said he wasn't going to talk about the issue.
Gilroy said that many people wanted to get behind McCarron's story as someone who has recovered from a terrible addiction, and yet this incident and his reaction to it is causing problems.
McCarron said he felt sorry for the family and the father. He didn't take up the opportunity to say he felt sorry for the girl and said his solicitors advised him not to talk about it.
Listen to the interview below - It's worth listening to the whole thing:
