Bruton's farcical chase ‘totally staged’
What better way to expose the evil Seanad as the unacceptable face of the Leinster House bubble, where politicians only talk to other politicians than to, er, stray a few hundred yards outside and “bump into” a fellow Cabinet minister after managing to talk to fewer than 20 people who live in the real world?
After a race through two side alleys and a small part of Grafton St, the campaign was back where it had started just minutes earlier, only now Transport Minister Leo Varadkar was strolling towards the group.
Asked if he was here by happenstance, he replied: “No, this is totally staged,” and, after a few digs about how elitist the Seanad is, everybody shuffled back to Leinster House.
Which was probably just as well, as the descent onto Planet Real World had perhaps not gone as smoothly as Mr Bruton’s handlers might have hoped.
For just as Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore was letting rip at the “austerity hawks” who had turned Ireland into an “economic experiment”, one of the apparent victims got in the Minister for Mass Unemployment’s face and asked for some assistance.
Keen to escape, Mr Bruton replied: “Catch you later,” as he dashed towards the relative safety of a flower seller while the rebuffed man’s voice followed him, bemoaning: “How you gonna catch me later? Don’t be so stupid.”
However, the unexpected star-turn of the saunter turned out to be former Fine Gael Dublin Lord Mayor Gerry Breen andhis array of slightly inappropriate quips.
When one of the first people to be encountered turned out to X Case Fine Gael rebel Peter Mathews, Mr Breen exclaimed: “Peter Matthews? Oh, please, no!”
To the Englishwoman they canvassed by mistake: “We need your money!”
And when the little manoeuvre was stopped in its tracks by the digging up of Grafton St, he mused: “Ah, shite!”
Which is probably what every voter is going to be thinking when a politician approaches them to tell them about the referendum.
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