Spring was in the air as the Taoiseach arrived to meet the President, writes
RÓISÍN INGLEat the Áras
THERE WAS an awful lot of spring in the hot air yesterday as the sun set on the 30th Dáil. Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny were falling over themselves to invoke the season of hope and renewal in their Dáil speeches. And even Brian Cowen in his valedictory speech quoted from the John O'Donohue poem For a Leader which contains a line about "the springtime edge of the bleak question".
His main task yesterday was bleak enough but as he arrived at Áras an Uachtaráin in the Phoenix Park the sun shone brightly, hinting at snowdrops and daffodils and all kinds of electioneering to come now that the campaigns have officially kicked off.
As Cowen signed the Irish version of his name in the guest book and added the word "Taoiseach", several Áras staff gathered in the grand State reception room behind a bank of photographers to witness the demise of a Dáil administration few will mourn.
Just before 4pm the President and the just-about-still Taoiseach attended to business at a round table under a chandelier as pools of sunshine spilled across a carpet edged with shamrocks. There was an encouraging grin from the President and a small smile in response from Cowen as they signed the relevant, sombrely worded documents.
Cowen's face was set in a neutral expression, his hands crossed in front of his body, giving away little of his feelings in a room full of amateur body language experts. We could only guess at the emotions. Relief? Anger? Resignation? Acceptance?
It was over in a few moments. It would probably take longer than this to dissolve a headache pill in a glass of water.
The formalities concluded, the man whose political obituary will include the fact that he was the shortest serving taoiseach in the history of the State went for a cup of tea with the President.
Largely unnoticed by the media, Cowen's wife Mary, his two daughters Sinéad and Meadhbh, his sister-in-law Ann and his niece Kate had watched proceedings from the hall off the State reception room.
When it was over they strode ahead of the photographers to join Cowen in a private room for refreshments. Outside, the media pack waited, not very hopefully, for a few words.
The Taoiseach-for-not- very-much-longer emerged after 20 minutes or so, just as the weather stopped impersonating spring and a cold rain began to fall. He posed for photographs with his stylish daughters and his wife, but declined to answer one journalist who asked "Is it a sad day, Taoiseach?"
"Okay, thank you," he said.
Then the Cowens got into a waiting car and sped off down the drive followed by other members of the family in a second car, their faces pale and serious.
Maybe it was them he was thinking of while quoting the last lines of For a Leader in the Dáil yesterday. "May you have good friends, to mirror your blind spots. May leadership be for you, a true adventure of growth."
Spring may be coming but the adventure was well and truly over. For Cowen anyway.