Noonan’s nod to Nidge amid Dáil poetry slam

Another touch of Frost in the Kildare Street air and it had nothing to do with the change in the weather.

Michael Noonan was moved to quote American poet Robert Frost at the conclusion of his budget speech on Tuesday.

He quoted WB Yeats last year: “Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.” This time, he opted for some foreign direct investment on the poetry front – but it didn’t stop there. Leo Varadkar had to get in on the act.

Looking mightily pleased with himself, he closed his address thus: "Yesterday the poet Robert Frost was quoted extensively in this chamber. My favourite lines are from a poem he recited at the inauguration of John F Kennedy in 1961.

"In The Gift Outright, he spoke of his country 'such as she was, such as she will become'. Today with this budget, we have the opportunity to build on the recovery of the past three years and offer hope for a prosperous and healthy Ireland, 'such as she was, such as she will become'." Then he sat down, looking suitably moved.

Across in the Seanad, Fianna Fáil’s Terry Leyden held forth on the results of last week’s byelections, declaring them “a wake-up call for the two parties in Government”.

They got a big shock, said the Roscommon-based senator, forgetting that the beaten favourite in Roscommon-South Leitrim came from his own party.

Looking at the figures, he feared "there will be a wipe-out of the Labour Party. This is unfortunate because I like the Labour Party. They are nice people."

In keeping with the current literary fad, Labour’s Aideen Hayden begged to differ.

"I think it was Oscar Wilde who said to the effect that rumours of our death are greatly exaggerated."

David Norris couldn't let that one go, nor could he resist getting in on the Frost retrospective. "There is a constant assumption that every witticism was said by Oscar Wilde. In fact, the thing about rumours of their death being exaggerated is Mark Twain. "

He didn't stop there. "Could the leader arrange for literacy classes for Fine Gael members as the Minister yesterday misquoted Robert Frost in his speech? It is the road not travelled, not the road not travelled by."

Loath as we are to cross quills with the scholarly Senator who has travelled the globe with an acclaimed one-man show on James Joyce, it appears that Noonan is in the right here.

The Minister correctly quoted part of a line from The Road Not Taken in his budget speech. Here's the relevant bit: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference."

Limerick isn't the European City of Culture for nothing. (Brendan Howlin, please copy.) Dead poets aside, Noonan is also au fait with Irish popular culture.

Michael and his Labour ministerial sidekick Howlin were out with Seán O'Rourke in RTÉ yesterday morning for the traditional post-budget phone-in. It was pretty uneventful, mirroring events in the Dáil. A relaxed Enda Kenny and Joan Burton had an easy day of it, with the Opposition failing to find that catalyst issue over which they could create a major fuss.

Meanwhile, Noonan and Howlin faced the press in RTÉ. The man from the Sun tried to sex up the budget a bit, informing them that Independent TD Finian McGrath is concerned over the decision to increase cigarette prices. "He is calling it a Nidge tax."

According to McGrath (who smokes like a train), the move will encourage criminality because more people will buy smuggled ciggies.

The reporter felt it necessary to explain to an amused Noonan about this man "Nidge, for Nigel" from Love/Hate. "It's an RTÉ crime drama series." Whereupon Howlin took it upon himself to point out that the Minister doesn't need to have the crime world explained. "He's from Limerick!"

Noonan ignored the remark and addressed the question. “Thank you very much for your review of popular television programmes,” he grinned. “I want to keep in touch with modern culture and I’d like to thank you for that briefing.”

Howlin, the exquisitely cultured Wexfordian, must have been raging he wasn't talking about the Opera Festival, which starts next week.

Don’t say you learn nuttin’ from this column.