Helen Lucy Burke reignites Norris controversy on Joe Duffy

Just six days from the 2011 Presidential election, Helen Lucy Burke has reignited the controversy surrounding comments made by David Norris on pederasty in a 2001 interview. Ms Lucy Burke provided audio tapes of the interview to RTE which were broadcast on the Joe Duffy show. [The audio is below].     

While the audio tape will subject Norris to scrutiny once again, some sympathy may also be derived for the manner in which his 2001 comments were portrayed. The tape reveals Norris speaking in an open, informal, almost conversational manner. The background noise of a restaurant is clearly audible and at times Norris's speech appears slurred. Helen Lucy Burke asked direct qustions. She directly asked Mr Norris "Where do you draw the line?" in sexual relations between gay men (this segment of the interview deals primarily with gay men). She then asked (at approximately 4 minutes in the recording below)  "What about paedophelia?".

A sample of the reaction on Twitter is beneath the audio recording. Your comments below are welcome. 

{saudioplayer}David Norris interview 1.mp3{/saudioplayer}

The original article published in Magill, January 2002 was scanned by TheJournal.ie here: Page 1, Page 2 and Page 3. 

Reaction on Twitter:

[View the story "David Norris interview with Helen Lucy Burke on Liveline: reaction" on Storify]