Yes minister, there is something fishy

THERE were a few banana skins lying around the English Market in Cork yesterday as the Green Party leader mingled with shoppers.

Like other politicians before him, John Gormley went for the now obligatory photoshoot at a fish stall.

He smiled proudly as he posed with a large halibut. One wag was heard to mutter that the fish’s face bore a remarkable similarity to another senior politician.

The flashbulbs went off and before Gormley could get to grips with the next species he found himself on the receiving end of the public’s ire over the downfall of the economy.

It was the political equivalent of getting a slap in the face with a wet fish.

One middle-aged woman, who declined to be named, gave it to him with both barrels.

“I voted for you at the last election, but never again,” she bellowed.

She then asked him how his party could continue to back Fianna Fáil following the almost daily scandals unfolding in the banking sector.

“I’m disgusted by it. Look at the serious state we are in,” she said.

Gormley kept his cool and smiled politely at her before his handlers moved him along.

A male shopper also asked him what he was doing about the crisis.

“We need to see accountability,” he insisted.

Later Gormley admitted that more people were inclined to come up to him and vent their anger about such issues.

At least he was speaking to Cork natives, though.

When the Taoiseach went on a trip around the market last year it proved rather embarrassing.

He met French, Poles, Latvians and an Austrian before coming face to face with what his handlers were on the verge of believing never paid a trip to the English Market — the Irish punter.

Not too many Eastern Europeans around yesterday, though. They’ve all voted with their feet and returned home.

Their exodus, not prompted by the nationalistic musings of Noel O’Flynn and Ned O’Keeffe, but the violent death of the Celtic Tiger and the fishy smell surrounding it.