A very minor political kerfuffle erupted yesterday when Brian O'Driscoll confirmed that he does not explicitly endorse the campaign fellow Clontarf native Jane Horgan-Jones in the upcoming local elections, nor has he come out in support of anybody else.
Despite being the most coveted political candidate possibly in Irish history, O'Drisoll has previously rubbished any talk of his going into politics after rugby à la Jim Glennon, Trevor Ringland et al.
Horgan-Jones, a Labour councillor for the Clontarf ward of Dublin City Council, used a picture of herself with BOD and Fr Peter McVerry as one of the images in her election pamphlets.
The rugby star and the social activist received the Freedom of the City of Dublin at the same ceremony at the Mansion House last month, and posed for photos with city councillors after the event.
O'Driscoll was quick to point out that the use of his image should not be seen as an endorsement of Horgan-Jones' campaign.
A spokeswoman for O'Driscoll told the Irish Independent:
Brian was unaware of the Labour candidate using a photo of him and her on her leaflet. The night of the freedom of the city, he stood for loads of shots with councillors so I’m presuming this is where it originates from. The inclusion of the photo is absolutely not an endorsement of this candidate. Brian gets his photo taken with literally thousands of people every year.
This afternoon, O'Driscoll tweeted Horgan-Jones to point out that while he wasn't publicly backing her, his comments should not be construed as an 'un-endorsement'. Horgan-Jones was a prominent supporter of the campaign to give O'Driscoll the Freedom of Dublin. You can make your own judgement on her motives for including the photo from the Twitter exchange below.
@BrianODriscoll hi Brian thanks for tweet-pic was one of about 20 on leaflet,just showing us at the Dub City Council event with Fr McV :)
— Jane Horgan-Jones (@horganjonesjane) May 14, 2014
@BrianODriscoll full leaflet is here ! pic.twitter.com/EZIPCydc6m — Jane Horgan-Jones (@horganjonesjane) May 14, 2014
