Cheers to a unique festival that really gives power to the people

HOW do you behave like Speaker Conolly when you smell like Mary O’Rourke? I can tell you, it’s not easy.

Pretending to have the authority of a historical figure, when you’re bathed in the elegant scent of our once-leader of the Seanad isn’t easy. But it was the dilemma with which I had to cope last Sunday.

Perhaps, not least in the interests of Mary’s unsullied reputation, I should explain. Speaker Conolly (he spelled his name with one n) was at one stage, in the early 18th century, the richest man in Ireland. He was reckoned to own more than 150,000 acres, and was a figure of very considerable influence. The name by which he was known derived from the fact that he was speaker of the Irish House of Commons until his death in 1729.