Final line of Raglan Road rings true as day breaks for Cowen

THEY are not called “drink-ins” for nothing.

Deputies, ministers and journalists swirl around one another late into the night and early morning across the party conference hotel bar exchanging news and gossip — the press and politicians seeking either stories or publicity in an informal, laid-back atmosphere impossible to recreate back at the Dáil.

TDs on tour tend to let their guard down — not to mention their hair — as the annual pre-season “think-ins” roll around the country in the run-up to the new Oireachtas term commencing.