Committee tensions bad for health; 14 Marys brought to book; Prone set to take another spin; Panzer Mansergh lets fly for Bertie; Anointed One to be put through paces in Dáil; gongs for Ahern and Blair in North
Ructions on the Leinster House plinth on Thursday, when the Oireachtas committee on health gathered for a photo opportunity.
The occasion was to mark a visit south by the health committee from the Northern Ireland Assembly, led by their chairwoman, Iris Robinson. A happy event, marred slightly by a heated exchange of words between Deputy John Moloney, chair of the local committee, and member Senator Mary White.
Senator White, who is not given to hiding her light under a bushel, was concerned about a discussion on the topic of suicide, due to take place after the formalities concluded. Mary is hosting a conference on the issue this weekend in the City West Hotel, and has deluged both politicians and media in Leinster House with glossy literature on the conference.
As the North/South gathering stood for the photo, it seems Senator White told Deputy Moloney that she should be the first person to address the joint committee meeting. But he was not inclined to accommodate her.
There ensued a loud and heated exchange of words, which one onlooker reports as thus: Senator White to Deputy Moloney: "You're rude, and you're ignorant!" Deputy Moloney: "Well, at least I didn't go on Ursula Halligan's programme and make a show of myself in front of the entire country!" The matter was resolved in the committee room thanks to the generosity of the level-headed Rory O'Hanlon, the former ceann comhairle and a man used to dealing with fractious politicians.
John Moloney informed his colleagues and guests that Deputy O'Hanlon had agreed to let Mary speak first.
Given the upheaval going on among the Northern MLAs at the moment, Iris and her cross-party colleagues must have felt at home.
Speaking of Senator White - wonderful value for money - she's the only Mary who doesn't feature in Mary Banotti's new book There's Something About Mary, which hits the shops this week.
Former Fine Gael senator and unsuccessful presidential candidate Banotti conducted conversations about life in politics with all the Marys who currently hold elected office here. She features 14 of them, with Mary White and Mary McAleese the only two who didn't participate. "I made several attempts to contact Senator White but all my calls and letters went unanswered," says Banotti of the woman who hopes to be Fianna Fáil's choice for the next presidential election.
President McAleese's spokesperson said she didn't have time to be interviewed, and sent a copy of her authorised biography instead.
"All the women I spoke to were delightful. They were great fun, and had very interesting contributions to make on Irish women in politics," says first-time author Mary B.
In the book, Minister Mary Coughlan and MEP Mary Lou McDonald give fascinating insights on what it's like trying to combine holding political office while rearing a young family. Veteran Mary O'Rourke, who's enjoying a purple patch at the moment, declared happily: "I've finally lived long enough to be a disgrace to myself and my family." There's Something About Mary will be launched on March 5th in the offices of the European Commission by broadcaster Olivia O'Leary. The book is published by Currach Press and costs €14.99.
The recent news that PR guru Terry Prone had severed her links with Carr Communications - once memorably described by broadcaster Mike Murphy as "the Bunny Carr school for the potentially sincere" - left the gossipy world of Irish spin agog with curiosity.
There was talk that the prolix and prolific Ms Prone was taking time out to concentrate on her writing career following her long walk from the company famous for teaching Irish politicians how to talk proper.
However, news reaches us that Terry is far from finished with the world of PR and corporate communications. When the company changed ownership three years ago in a management buyout, Ireland's Queen of Spin set up her own company and supplied her services on contract to Carr Communications.
Now, in what she describes as a radical expansion of "the communications clinic", Terry is setting up in opposition to the empire she has left behind. Adverts in tomorrow's papers will be looking for a managing director, directors of PR, training and career clinics, training and PR consultants, and an administrator.
Potential applicants will be cheered to read that her company will probably offer people less than they're currently on. An enticement not normally seen in recruitment ads.
Workaholic Terry has not abandoned her writing career either. She's currently in the middle of two books, one of them about murder in Ireland.
Three cheers for our Man of the Week: Martin Mansergh - Bertie's one-man panzer division, who rolls on regardless, no matter what sort of embarrassing evidence emerges about his leader at the Mahon tribunal. Prof Mansergh gives no quarter in his defence of his Taoiseach, and has been to the fore in pleading his case when Bertie's more senior troops have taken to the bunkers.
His overwrought performance on Vincent Browne's television show during the week, when he suggested that a great statesman like Bertie should not have to lower himself by answering questions at the tribunal, was a classic. Mansergh the Panzer's high-pitched wails shattered glasses all over the country.
But his finest hour came on yesterday's Morning Ireland, when he reassured listeners that his leader's difficulties were no more than a bit of in-flight turbulence, and a safe landing was in sight.
When Fine Gael's resident tribunal expert, Senator Eugene Regan, dared to differ, Martin became incandescent. The Senator had some nerve, questioning Bertie Ahern's finances, shrieked Deputy Mansergh, voice rising at an alarming rate. "It's totally improper."
Fianna Fáil's resident blue-blood was appalled at his impertinence. And down the phone line, from his country pile in Tipperary, there came an earsplitting rebuke. "You should have respect for your betters!" Eugene Regan may well be a wealthy senior counsel living by the sea in leafy south Dublin, but nonetheless, a peasant must always know his place.
Quote of the week belongs to Bertie: it's the pick of the many gems he dropped during his "loo-lahs" of the "loony left" attack on anti-EU treaty groups on Wednesday night.
He said opponents of the treaty are forecasting: "We will ruin ourselves and we'll go under sea and that we'll succeed in doing what St Patrick didn't do by bringing the water all over Ireland, and every other nonsense." Answers, on a postcard, to B Ahern . . .
There was much talk around Dublin Castle yesterday that Taoiseach Ahern has artfully avoided next week's inevitable Dáil fallout from his tribunal appearance because he will be on a visit to eastern Europe. However, Bertie's absence may prove difficult for The Anointed One. Having managed to maintain his distance from the continuing Mahon controversy surrounding his party leader, Brian Cowen will be forced to answer hard questions about the worsening situation surrounding his leader.
"The Taoiseach's absence will expose Tánaiste Cowen to direct questions on his leader's unorthodox financial arrangements," said a senior Labour Party source yesterday. "Bertie is on the way out, but he's left his successor with one hell of a headache." The Opposition is privately delighted that the Taoiseach won't be around. "If we're going to send a turkey to the Eurovision, we may as well go the whole hog and send a dead duck to Europe," chortled one deputy.
Still, with the rough comes the smooth. More happiness lies on the horizon for beleaguered Bertie. Hot on the heels of his address to the US Congress at the end of April, he will be conferred with an honorary doctorate a few weeks later in Belfast.
The Taoiseach and former British prime minister Tony Blair are to receive honorary doctorates from Queen's University at the Mitchell Conference on May 22nd. The awarding of the doctorates will be the centrepiece of the conference, and will be in recognition of the important contributions that the two men have made to peace efforts on the island of Ireland.
Co-operation Ireland - formerly Co-operation North - is a major sponsor of the Mitchell Conference, which seeks to help others learn from peace efforts made in Northern Ireland over the previous decade. Political leaders, academics and activists from around the world will gather at Queen's for two days to discuss lessons learned from the peace process and how they might be applied in other parts of the world.
The conference will include presentations and discussions led by internationally recognised figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Dr Desmond Tutu and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson. Other speakers include Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern TD; chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland Sir Hugh Orde; and the Right Honorable Lord David Trimble.