O’Donoghue wants to recruit Indian PM for election battle

TOURISM Minister John O’Donoghue wants to recruit Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sing the praises of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern during next year’s general election.

The Taoiseach met with the Indian Premier on Thursday night during his visit to India this week leading Enterprise Ireland’s trade mission to India.

It is the first official visit to India by a Taoiseach and the key aim is to enhance bilateral political and economic relations between Ireland and India. Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin, Education Minister Mary Hanafin and Mr O’Donoghue accompanied the Taoiseach.

While the three-hour meeting between the two prime ministers was private, Mr O’Donoghue did report on the esteem in which Mr Singh holds his boss, at a press briefing in Mumbai yesterday: “It was very clear from what he had to say that he regards the Taoiseach as a statesman of international stature.

“I wish Taoiseach that we could use what he had to say on television for our general election. I don’t think we’d be allowed do that.

“But it is important because it’s true, mind you he did say also that you have to have longevity if you are to be a statesman, so I’ll stick around you for a little bit longer,” he said.

However, Mr Ahern seems to have set 60 as his retirement date from politics. He let this slip in unscripted remarks at an Enterprise Ireland lunch in the Taj Residency Hotel in Bangalore. But he added that he would be looking for a post working with big Irish firms on the international stage.

The Indian Government pulled out all the stops in welcoming the Taoiseach and his entourage to India.

There was tight security and his cavalcade caused consternation in the crammed cities of Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai as roads were blocked off to ensure safe passage.

There were troops or policemen every 100 metres or so all along the road during his first day of the mission in Bangalore. This was more or less replicated everywhere else.

Deputy Donie Cassidy, who was accompanying the Taoiseach in his capacity as chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, said he was very impressed by the scale of the welcome given to the Taoiseach.

“It was like the visit of the late US President John F Kennedy to Ireland in ’63,” the TD said.

However, Indian businessmen were a little taken aback when the Taoiseach started working the hall, stopping at every table and chatting with guests. They have little or no access to India’s top politicians.

Mumbai businessman Vikram Kelkar, a guest at an Enterprise Ireland function, said he was very impressed.

“He really likes people. He mixed the so serious with chat in his speech. It was excellent,” he said.