Lise Hand: Not a whiff of controversy as FF tails creep up again
It was all a bit reminiscent of the scene of a big accident where platoons of impatient coppers assiduously shepherd eager rubberneckers away from the grisly action with the standard line of, "Move along there folks, nothing to see here".
From the blithe unconcern emanating from various cabinet ministers (and a former Taoiseach) yesterday, one would easily believe that Car-Crash Cowen had damn nearly skidded into a ditch around the same time that the Brits lobbed shells at the GPO rather than a mere seven days previously.
It seems there's truth in that rusty old saying that a week is a long time in politics.
As various political poobahs arrived at Grangegorman in Dublin 7 for the official launch of the development of mental health facilities and a DIT campus, they were anxious to put Squiffogate firmly in the past.
First to downplay the whole congestion question surrounding Brian Cowen's infamous 'Morning Ireland' after the night before was Bertie Ahern. "I don't think there's any ongoing controversy," he shrugged.
"I think it's a storm in a teacup," he added (although if teacups had been involved, there wouldn't have been any storm in the first place).
Transport Minister Noel Dempsey wasn't in the mood for a chat and whizzed past the media like a runaway Luas. But he did manage one remark as he zoomed by. "That's all finished and done with," he reckoned.
Next in line was an unruffled Mary Harney who was wearing the puzzled expression of someone who couldn't fathom what all the hoohah was about. Nor did she hesitate before giving the Taoiseach a resounding thumbs-up.
And when he arrived at the project launch, the Taoiseach was in an equally bullish mood. He posed for photographs before the ceremony surrounded by a supportive cohort of Mary Coughlan, Mary Harney and Noel Dempsey, and afterwards gave a confident and pleasantly jargon-free doorstep interview.
"Clearly we're in the process of ensuring that our public finances continue to consolidate, that we improve those and that we bring forward a successful Budget for challenging times and that's what we're determined to do. And the Government is totally focussed on that," he said.
There were signs that tails were creeping up again. There was even a bit of sly humour floating about. Before the interview started in a windy corner of the grounds, a chap was dispatched to hide behind the roll-down backdrop and anchor it to the ground -- at a previous interview a few months ago, a similar flimsy backdrop took flight and wrapped itself around the Taoiseach's head.
"Micheal Martin told us last week that lessons must be learned," said a press officer solemnly. "That was one of them."
And so the sky -- or a roll-down backdrop -- failed to fall on Brian Cowen's head yesterday.
- Lise Hand
Irish Independent
