'Bring Him Home' blares from speakers as new Taoiseach receives a standing ovation from the rapturous Mayo faithful, write LORNA SIGGINSand TOM SHIEL
THERE was a light scattering of snow on the Mayo mountains, and more than a light scattering of people queuing outside the “TF” Royal Theatre on Saturday night as Castlebar prepared to welcome home the man dubbed the “new Messiah”.
And if a passing traveller wondered about the eve that was in it, a national flag partly obscuring a plaque on the Westport road might have given a clue.
“In this house was born An Taoiseach Charles J Haughey on the 16th September 1925,” the plaque on the townhouse read.
“Welcome home Taoiseach” read the imprint on the tricolour placed carefully above it – complete with a monochrome image of Enda Kenny.
As enthusiasts of all ages streamed into the “TF” nearby, neighbours of the Kenny family at Milebush, on the town’s outskirts, had defied a ban on celebratory bonfires by lighting a modest, three-foot high pyre.
The wood for the blaze was obtained from a local tree felled by recent storms, the residents noted, as two Chinese lanterns were lighted and sent soaring into the night sky.
Inside, Fine Gael Castlebar branch chairman John McHugh was assigned the warm-up act, along with town mayor Ger Deere, Senator Paddy Burke and award-winning traditional musicians Rolling Wave. Among the many young families present were Tomás and Anne Collins from Castlebar, with their three children Jack (11), Ruth (8) and Alexandra (5).
“It’s a once in a lifetime night,” Collins, a descendant of the party’s founding father, noted, as he recalled how his father had been driver for the new Taoiseach’s late father Henry, when he was a TD in the 1950s.
That was a time, Collins said, when “there were roadblocks, and it wasn’t popular being Fine Gael around here”.
The hall erupted when new junior minister and "crown prince" Michael Ring arrived, and there was a standing ovation on the balconies when Kenny walked on stage to the tune of the Les Miserables hit, Bring Him Home.
He grasped the fists of his constituency colleagues Ring, John O’Mahony and Michelle Mulherin, and then came the speeches, with MEP Jim Higgins eliciting ecstatic cheers for his dig at the Flynn dynasty.
There had been “a man in this town who styled himself the Messiah,” Higgins said. “Erra, Pádraig, we’ll leave it at that . . .”
There was a welcome for any turfcutters present from John O’Mahony, who said that he knew the new Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan would “look after you” over the new ban.
Ring made two requests – that people would holiday at home, and that Mayo would “bring the Sam Maguire” back in September.
An elderly man who fainted during Ring’s address gave Kenny a thumbs-up as he was carried out, and then the Taoiseach took to the podium.
Paying tribute to the audience for their trust and faith, he spoke of the challenges ahead and drew laughter as he referred to the promises in the “five . . . point . . . plan.”
There was silence as he spoke of a “long and arduous journey” in politics, and his belief in Irish people’s creativity, imagination and ingenuity.
“When Paddy puts his mind to it, there are very few who can match his intention,” he said to some winces in the press gallery, but many cheers.
He spoke of his late father, of his mother who was “in her early twenties”, and paid tribute to his wife Fionnuala, up on the balcony, and children Aoibhinn, Ferdia and Naoise.
“You don’t realise what it means until you step out of that State car outside Áras an Uachtaráin and the soldier salutes not you, but the office, or somebody says to you ‘I suppose that you won’t talk to us at all now’,” he continued, to more laughter. He spoke of pride in an electorate that chose as leader “a man from the county of [Michael] Davitt” and said he looked forward to welcoming Barack Obama to Ireland during next week’s visit to the White House. And for his last quip of the night, he recalled presenting shamrock to New York mayor Rudy Giuliani when he was minister for tourism back in the mid-1990s.
“Rudy as you know made his name by taking on the mafia. So I gave him the big bowl of shamrock and I said to him ‘you know Rudy, you can smoke this stuff when it dries out’.” “Yeh, really?” Kenny mimicked Giuliani’s reply.
The crowd erupted again. Cue more music – Simply the Bestby Tina Turner.