Cowen portrait - So busy with drama, what about crisis?

While people may sympathise with someone confronted with an unflattering portrait, it is all part of being in the public eye. The reaction of the authorities to the unflattering portraits of the Taoiseach has therefore been completely over the top.

Having exhibited an alarming degree of political ineptitude in recent months, the Government, it seems, is bent on making an international laughing stock of the country by the high-handed attitude adopted in relation to the whole matter.

The Government press secretary’s complaint to RTÉ about the portraits of Brian Cowen was absurd, and it was even worse that RTÉ apologised. One Fianna Fáil deputy even intimated that Cathal Goan, the director general of RTÉ, should resign over the matter.