'We've all made mistakes in life'

THE former tenant owed €3,300 by Jim Gavin says he feels sorry for him - and accepts he made a mistake in not paying him back.

- BY MICHAEL O'TOOLE

Hours after Mr Gavin sensationally quit the race for the Aras over the unpaid debt to him from 2009, the man told this paper: “We've all made mistakes in life, so I do feel sorry for him in that way”

But he also said if Mr Gavin had fronted up and promised to pay the cash back as late as last Friday when the story emerged he would have accepted that.

Meanwhile wannabe presidential candidate Mary Hanafin described what had happened as a “complete shambles” and said it should have been foreseen.

She told RTE that Mr Gavin's lack of political experience meant that he simply not an appropriate candidate. She said: “The leadership is responsible for the process and the way people are selected.

“I'm sorry for Jim Gavin because I don't believe he should ever have been walked into a situation where he was chosen as the candidate for the presidency.

“I don't believe he was an appropriate candidate in the first instance.”

The former tenant said he feels Mr Gavin, a former Air Corps officer, was badly advised by Fianna Fail during the crisis in the campaign that erupted late last week when it emerged he owed him the money from 16 years ago.

The man told us: “I don't know what advice he got. If hed rung me and tried to resolve it, and said ‘I meant to do it, and I never got around to it’, or whatever.

“T kind of blame Fianna Fail for that rather than him, because you can see he’s got his advice and they've told him what to do.