Prone: Cowen ‘scratched an itch’ with his speech

TERRY PRONE, the Communications Clinic director and Irish Examiner columnist, told RTÉ’s Drivetime that the Government would regret not having footage of Brian Cowen’s speech as he had “scratched an itch”.

“For several weeks people have been looking for some kind of leadership, some kind of direction and for Brian Cowen to live up to the legend of Brian Cowen, as a great rouser of the troops. His speech in the Dáil was, frankly, poor. Yet, last night one thing he seems to have done is throw away any scripted stuff. We heard a man thinking his way through a speech which was designed to make people say ‘yes, we should pull together’.

“It is what we should expect of a prime minister in an emergency.”