The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Deaglán de Bréadún
Greetings to y’all. Just back from a summer “staycation” and rarin’ to blog. Need one say how desperately quiet the political news is at the moment? Except, that is, for the presidential election which is the gift that keeps on giving.
I see the National Newspapers of Ireland are presenting an award this year for “outstanding contribution to the industry”. There are moments when I think it should go to the candidates and the “maybe I will/then again I won’t” people in the presidential saga.
It is 14 years since we had the last presidential vote, which was won by Mary McAleese. That was quite lively, with her opponents doing their best to make capital out of her Belfast nationalist origins. Then there was the surgical strike through the media against Adi Roche which terminally damaged the Labour candidate’s campaign.
Seven years earlier, the Robinson-Lenihan-Curry contest was a classic, generating colossal interest and dozens of news stories. Thank you, Pádraig Flynn, Brian Lenihan Sr, et al.
This particular election hasn’t even been officially declared and yet it is keeping us quite busy in what are normally the “dog-days” of August. When it gets going officially, it should be great value altogether.
P.S I checked back and my first post here was on 8 July 2008. It concerned the Lisbon Treaty referendum. Seems like another world now.
