Insecure gombeenism - Céad míle cringes

The Delhi durbars, those great carnivals of ostentation and submission that marked the coronation of British monarchs when they ruled India, surpassed the welcome afforded to property tycoon Donald Trump in Clare yesterday, but only just.

The durbars, after all, lasted between two and four weeks so it may be an unfair comparison. It is fair to say though the welcome given to Mr Trump surpassed anything extended to Davy Fitzgerald and the Clare hurlers when they brought the Liam MacCarthy Cup home last September. It is especially difficult, and demeaning, to imagine that Finance Minister Michael Noonan had nothing better to do than stand at the end of the red carpet welcoming Mr Trump like a supplicant boxwallah.

Mr Trump bought the Doonbeg golf resort and plans to invest millions to make it a world-class attraction. That he secured the property at a bargain basement price does not diminish the welcome he should get, but it is a pity that nearly every occasion like this provokes pathetic gombeenism of the shabbiest and most insecure kind. Dignified or impressive it was not.