The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will present the ESB National Media Awards on Friday. Considering the disfavour in which the media in general, and certain individuals in particular, find themselves with large sections of FF following the defeat of Albert Reynolds and, more seriously, after events leading to the resignation of Ray Burke, it will be interesting to hear what Ahern will say to the assembled journalists.
The occasion will be even more fraught, as several of the awards will go to journalists who had scoops on the scandals, such as Sam Smyth, who started it all with the story on Michael Lowry's house extension, and Cliff Taylor of The Irish Times, who was first to write that a senior FF figure had received £1 million from Ben Dunne. Two other Irish Times writers - Frank McNally and Eileen Battersby - have also won awards, McNally for his colour writing and Battersby for her arts coverage.