That gang is bad enough already without awarding them gongs

ROYSTON BRADY was roasted during the week for supposedly trying to grab the sympathy vote over his claim that his late father, a taxi driver, was kidnapped by the Dublin bombers of 1974.

His father was also allegedly threatened with death, before being released while his abductors made their getaway in his taxi.

Nobody has explained how that would get him a sympathy vote.

It would seem most unlikely that the people who kidnapped his father were the Dublin bombers, but that was only incidental to Royston. He seemed to be just seeking publicity without regard to the tactlessness of his methods.

Some politicians believe all publicity is good, but those who grab the headlines for any kind of exposure don't tend to stay around all that long.

There are two elements to political popularity. One is the amount of support that candidates attract and the other is the amount that they repel with their ideas or by their behaviour. Often, a voter's strongest motivation in voting for somebody is in reaction to another candidate. That is especially true when it effectively comes down to a contest between two people, as in the case of two candidates from the same party running for the one seat that the party is likely to win.

The polls have been indicating that Royston Brady would win the Fianna Fáil seat in Dublin, but I'll be very surprised if he beats his running-mate Eoin Ryan after the debacle over the kidnapping affair, even though this developed so late in the campaign that many people will not have been aware of it.

The Dublin bombing was the single worst deliberate outrage in the history of the State. The Ballyseedy massacre paled into insignificance in comparison, because 28 totally innocent people men, women and children were indiscriminately murdered in Dublin, and scores of others were maimed in the furtherance of demented political ideals. For anyone then to try to use this disaster for their own political purposes even if only to secure publicity is not just insensitive and tactless but also offensive to the families of the bereaved.

After Royston Brady talked about the affair to Hot Press, the Barron Commission wrote to him for information, but he did not bother to respond.

"In hindsight," he admitted that he should "have done things differently. It's not that I just ignored it, I specifically had nothing to add to what they had already read".

He should, at least, have told that to the commission.

He had no problem talking to the press again and again about his father's ordeal, but he could not be bothered to talk to the Barron Commission. Such conduct left him open to the charge of merely exploiting the story and all the enormous hurt for a cheap publicity stunt.

He should have learned something from what happened following the recent bombings in Madrid when members of the Spanish government sought to exploit that tragic situation for their own political ends. In the process they blew a general election that they looked like winning only hours earlier. They got what they deserved.

Questions should also be asked about the supposed Papal honours that were conferred last month on Irish politicians. Were those merely publicity stunts in which the politicians allowed themselves to be exploited by others?

Last November Cardinal Pompedda, (or Mario Francesco Pompedda, to give him his full name) conferred the Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Francis I on the former British Prime Minister, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, at Westminster Cathedral in the presence of Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor. It was described at the time as "the highest honour awarded by the Catholic Church".

King Francesco (Francis) I reputedly founded the award when he ruled the Two Sicilies from 1825 until 1830. Even though Cardinal Pompedda presided, the whole thing really had nothing to do with the Vatican, as the Holy See does not officially recognise the Order of Constantine, which was behind the whole thing.

Last month Cardinal Pompedda came to Dublin and went to Áras an Uachtaráin to confer the insignia of the Dame Grand Cross with Gold Star and the Collar of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George on President Mary McAleese. Desmond Cardinal Connell and Senator Don Lydon (a vice-delegate and chancellor of the Order of Constantine) attended the presentation.

THE President also received a congratulatory letter from the Order's grand prefect, His Royal Highness the Duke of Calabria, who regretted that he could not attend the ceremony in person, as he had a pressing commitment attend the wedding of HRH Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. That was a royal occasion and the royalty look after themselves first. Come to think of it, what was the President of this Republic doing accepting a regal decoration?

Cardinal Pompedda later inducted Bertie Ahern into the Sacred Military Constantinian Order and presented him with the insignia of Knight Grand Cross of Merit with Gold Star as Cardinal Connell and Senator Lydon looked on. Bertie was wearing a blue sash for the occasion. In fairness to him, he had the good grace to look embarrassed as he received the brooch from the cardinal. Maybe it was embarrassment that prompted him to use his constituency office for the occasions, instead of the Taoiseach's office.

Of course, that would have spared Senator Lydon unpleasant memories of that awful day in the early 1990s when he was summoned to the Tajmahaughey for the first time to receive a dressing-down from the Boss, Charlie Haughey. He savaged Don before dismissing him from his office but the poor Senator was so distressed that could not find the door in the midst of all the wood panelling, so Charlie characteristically invited him to "jump out the f***ing window".

Then, to add insult to injury, the parliamentary party only laughed at him when he told them about the little fellow's offensive behaviour.

As Lord Mayor of Dublin, Royston Brady invited the visiting dignitaries to the Mansion House. He was later invited to Berlin to receive a decoration from Cardinal Pompedda.

The cardinal, who was 75 in April, had his mandatory resignation accepted with unusual speed by the Pope at the end of May. Questions are being asked about why it was accepted so quickly. Other prominent cardinals remained in place long after submitting their mandatory resignations.

The awards thing has turned into an embarrassing farce. Don't expect to see Bertie wearing his blue sash and brooch anytime soon.

It reminds one of the visit of Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 1988 when he presented Charlie Haughey and some of his ministers with a gold dagger each. Before this day is out, there will probably be more than a few who will think that a gold dagger was a particularly appropriate gift for some of those directing things in Fianna Fáil!

Mercifully we do not have an honours system here and we can do without the Knights of the Garter, gold daggers, unearned titles and all that crap. In a true republic, those are absurdities.