Cabinet bigmouth strikes again in the southern capital

YESTERDAY the entire Cabinet showed up in Cork to prove that there’s at least one aspect of the Government decentralisation programme that’s more or less going to plan.

Like Charlie McCreevy’s big idea for entire Government departments, this little project to bring democracy to the people hasn’t delivered on all the promises.

Initially billed as a regular occurrence, yesterday’s Cabinet meeting was the first outside the capital since the meeting in Emo, Co Laois 21 months ago.

In the event, the Cabinet deliberations played second fiddle to a raft of announcements, a couple of juicy photo opportunities, and Cork witnessing the spectacular spectacle of Michael McDowell unleashing his thoughts upon an unsuspecting public.

To recycle the old Rudy Giuliani joke, the most dangerous place in Ireland these days is the space between the justice minister and a microphone.

Doorstepped on his way into the meeting, Mr McDowell spoke for a good ten to fifteen minutes on the Morris Tribunal and in the afternoon - for good measure - put the boot into the publicans’ lobby.

That involved a bit of a two-step when it came to logic. Firstly he agreed that his proposals for a café bar were still subject to Cabinet discussion. But in the very next breath, he came out with a line that more or less said: “Over my dead body will I allow publicans to scupper my café bar idea, without them getting their comeuppance.”

The rest of his Cabinet were as pleasant and unassuming as the day, enjoying the pleasant sunshine in the couple of moments before being whisked from one gallery (the Crawford), to Jack Lynch’s former house in Shandon, to another gallery (the Lewis Glucksman). On the day, they all (including host minister Micheál Martin) deferred to the indomitable McDowell when it came to the limelight.

In the Crawford Gallery, ministers posed for a formal portrait on the first floor, in front of Sean Keating’s The Men of the South, depicting a group of (old) IRA men striking heroic poses.

The modern version of the painting would have room for only one hero and would have a slightly changed title: The Mouth of the South.