Politicians, because of so much travel in the line of work, are less inclined than the rest of us to flee the country in search of sun. Also, many believe that to declare they are heading to an exotic location on their hols will damage their public standing. Thus they tend to be economical with the truth on this matter and on a couple of occasions in recent years it has come as a surprise to discover where certain politicians have really been, as opposed to where they said they were going.
As usual Bertie Ahern will go with his two daughters to Kerry. Mary Harney will take a couple of weeks in France; both Micheal Martin and Noel Dempsey have chosen Portugal with their families, and the recently remarried Charlie McCreevy and his wife are taking a late honeymoon in France.
Of the stay-at-home bunch, Joe Walsh, John O'Donoghue and James McDaid will be at the Galway Races at the end of the month, then Walsh is going home to west Cork, O'Donoghue home to Kerry and McDaid says he is going to brush up his Irish in the Gaeltacht - but won't say which one. Mary O'Rourke and Michael Woods will be where they always are in August - Valencia Island, Co Kerry and the south-east respectively. Sile de Valera will be home in Ennis and hopes to have a few days in west Cork, while David An- drews, who travels more than most, will be chilling out at his holiday home in Connemara.
As for the others, Dermot Ahern is keeping his plans secret (it's a personal matter, a spokesman said), Brian Cowen and Michael Smith appear to have no plans at all and the new AG Michael McDowell is off to Portugal.
Fine Gael leader, John Bruton, is taking a week in London with his family and Labour leader, Ruairi Quinn, will be in Connemara as usual.