McDowell slips briefly into past

Attorney General Michael McDowell was never known for verbal restraint during his time in the Dail, although The Margin detected a measured tone in a speech to the Institute of Directors.

Of course, nothing but a considered argument is expected of the highest ranking law officer in the State and Mr McDowell's words on company law enforcement were a model of moderation, clarity and balance.

Almost. Towards the end of his prepared speech, the former rotweiller-in-chief of the PDs offered a brief glimpse of his former self.

Stating: "We are emerging from the torpor of being a mid-century economic backwater", Mr McDowell finished by saying that "the case for taking our company law seriously has never been stronger".

So strong, in fact, that Mr McDowell then likened non-enforcement of the Companies Acts to the situation in southern Italy during the bad old days, when the law was, well, not foremost on the agenda.

Before he knew it, heail colossus had lapsed into his eloquent persona of old, stating that the problem of "unregulated shambolic industry" and "shambolic commerce" had been ignored for far too long.