Michael Moynihan: Our new Taoiseach's sporting attempt to unlock the box

An Taoiseach Micheál Martin being greeted on his return to Ballinlough, Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane

“Our situation is the following. We are standing in front of a closed box which we cannot open, and we try hard to discover what is and is not in it.”

They say that Einstein didn’t speak until the age of three, a nugget which has cheered many an anxious parent, but of course he made up for that early silence later in life. Asides like the one above were dished out regularly in his correspondence.