Sketch
Áine Ryan
aineryan@mayonews.ie
COULD Croke Park be their Croagh Patrick? Word on the bush telegraph in County Mayo is that Taoiseach Enda Kenny wanted to hold the first parliamentary party meeting of this term on the top of the Reek. Well, reportedly he threw down a general gauntlet at his lieutenants for a postprandial stroll to the 764-meter high pyramidal peak this afternoon (Tuesday). Clearly, a far less luxurious location than the salubrious setting of the four-star Knockranny House Hotel.
Seemingly his ministers balked at the idea of following in the footsteps of our patron saint ….. Suppose it is more Frankfurt’s way (sorry Tánaiste) than Saint Patrick’s these days. Although a potential coup d’etat by junior minister Michael Ring was rumoured last night as he was seen handing out bicycle clips and maps for the Great Western Greenway between courses at the very tasty recession banquet.
Ring was being aided by Deputy Michelle Mulherin who offered master-classes in the appropriate sartorial etiquette for cycling – side-saddle for ladies, obviously. To brighten up the humdrum minutiae of economic doom and gloom and the prospect of taking on such vested interests as the unions and the country’s senior public servants, the Ballina legal eagle also offered to deliver a sermon from Leacht Benáin, one of the holy mountain’s reflective stations. The subject matter of the sermon is under a strict embargo, but The Mayo News understands it will not be on ‘promiscuity’.
Meanwhile, Mayo’s other Fine Gael trooper, John O’Mahony, was seen late last night with one foot over the border in south Mayo. After all, no need to be a dog on the street – even if it is in Headford – to realise the blue tsunami that returned four Fine Gael deputies to Mayo in February 2011, will not wash over the constituency again. All the constituency carve-up has achieved is to make that fact more real.
HAVE YOUR SAY email aineryan@mayonews.ie with your comments
