SAY what you like about the US, but its approach to internal dissent is in a different league to that of countries like Saudi Arabia and Cuba.

I’VE been lucky enough to be a witness to a range of dramatic political events. During the years I worked in Fianna Fáil headquarters, for example, I had a bird’s eye view of controversies during the Lenihan-Robinson Presidential election in 1990 and the collapse of the Reynolds Government in 1994.