The Tánaiste is facing criticism for expressing a “bar stool opinion” about the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

The death of the 39-year-old French woman at her holiday home in West Cork in 1996 left people in Ireland and her native France profoundly shocked.

Local resident Ian Bailey was arrested by Gardaí for questioning but never charged; however, in 2019 a French court convicted him of Ms Toscan du Plantier’s murder in his absence.

Mr Bailey did not attend the trial and went to his grave earlier this year maintaining his innocence. 

Speaking at the launch of journalist and author Senan Molony’s new book, ‘Sophie: The Final Verdict’, Tánaiste Micheál Martin suggested Ireland’s legal system “proved incapable of meeting its responsibilities to Sophie”.

He added that the “the evidence against the main suspect was broad and deep” and that Mr Bailey was a “violent man”. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Irish Examiner journalist Mick Clifford said he was “taken aback” by the Tánaiste’s remarks. 

“They amount, to be honest with you, to a bar stool opinion,” he said. 

“Which is grand if you are sitting in a bar on a stool and we’re opining about how awful the world is in various ways and how we could fix it if we were just given free rein. 

“Of course, that is not Mr Martin’s office - he is Tánaiste, the [second] most senior politician in the country and he was effectively criticising, in a very severe way, the justice system in this country.” 

A still of Sophie Toscan du Plantier from the Netflix documentary 'Sophie: A Murder in West Cork'. Picture by: Netflix

Mr Clifford said there is “much that can be criticised” about Ireland’s justice system but added that Gardaí went to huge efforts to obtain enough evidence to convict Mr Bailey. 

“If you examine in detail what happened here and if you look at the repeated attempts that were made by various officials to ensure there was a prosecution against Mr Bailey, you have to come to the conclusion that Micheál Martin’s comments were totally off the Richter scale in that respect,” he said.

French conviction

Mr Clifford attended Mr Bailey’s trial in France but was left unimpressed by proceedings. 

“That trial was a show trial,” he said. 

“It was basically a hearing to confirm Ian Bailey’s guilt and I’ve written about this numerous times. 

“The quality of some of the evidence wouldn’t make it past the door in an Irish court and it looked to me to be very politically motivated.

“If following that conviction, the courts had extradited Bailey, in my opinion, they would have done a huge disservice to any basic notions of natural justice.” 

Ian Bailey is seen in Skibbereen, Cork in June 2019. Picture by: aphperspective / Alamy Stock Photo

Despite all this, Mr Clifford described Mr Bailey as a “highly unattractive character” and noted he had a history of domestic violence. 

“He was a bore - a complete bore - and he showed narcissistic traits,” he said. 

“By contrast, the family of Ms Toscan du Plantier have carried what is a horrific burden with pure dignity.

“The point I’m making is, we have laws not for the people we like but we have laws for everybody.”

When he died in February, Mr Bailey’s solicitor described him as a “lonely and sad individual whose life was destroyed” by the allegation against him.

Main image: Split of Micheál Martin and Sophie Toscan du Plantier.