Silence is golden, like Royston’s chains of office

GIVE a man a rope and he’ll hang himself. But give him a mayoral chain and he’ll choke himself.

Royston Brady might not be able to name all 10 accession states. He may be no Socrates when it comes to political philosophy. He may have the same attitude to studio interviews as a person would have to Rottweilers with rabies. But, according to the polls, he is going to coast into Europe.

Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins had a brilliant take on Royston’s media shyness yesterday. It came up during a Dáil debate on the future of Aer Rianta.

He was complaining it was impossible to get a word out of Royston on any issue, including the future of Dublin Airport.

He asked Bertie Ahern: “Will the Taoiseach call on European Parliamentary candidates in Dublin, in particular, to debate with us on the future of Aer Rianta, since one of the Dublin candidates, who he recently promoted to Lord Mayor, seems to have wrapped his chain of office around his vocal cords? On one media outlet recently, he managed what seemed like a strangled mutter which may even make the Taoiseach’s answers seem like pristine clarity.”

It was the second time in two days the Taoiseach was accused of being fully articulate. The day before we had a first in Irish politics when he actually clarified a statement by Michael McDowell on the Curtin affair, saying the Justice Minister’s comments on a financial settlement not being out of the question had been taken out of context.

You wouldn’t think an election was less than a fortnight away, given the tame encounters of yesterday. Instead of taking the hump, Bertie actually hoped that Higgins would do well in Dublin. He even said he’d give him a preference down the line.

Number 12 (out of a possible 12) perhaps?