Gust from doonbeg blew trip off course
IT was all going so well, if a little boring perhaps, but then Leo Varadkar was blown off course by an Atlantic gust from off the coast near Doonbeg.
Now he has found himself in a hapless situation akin to disillusioned bumbling fool Don Quixote.
Both men have been caught desperately tilting at windmills.
The Paddy’s Day trip is supposed to be the classic good news story.
Barring any major controversy at home, the Taoiseach can tick off the cities as he spreads the good word about the auld sod, giving it socks, so to speak.
He pedals the same chosen message in each venue he visits, with the audiences mostly lapping it up, except for the exasperated hacks following in tow who near the end of the week are close to being able to recite the same speech by heart having heard it so many times.
JOKE
So, you might forgive him to trying to liven things up a little, throw in a little joke, or a folksy anecdote.
Golf was the obvious touchstone for Leo to hit with Donald Trump, so he thought he’d come up with a good one when he hit on the Doonbeg planning lark.
Sure he didn’t get the planning changed, it couldn’t do any harm he must have thought, could it?
How wrong he was.
Here he is now facing off against a giant wind turbine, in the same way that Don Quixote looked up at the giant windmill he faced, both having to contend with a dragon of sorts in a way.
Instead his diversion off script has everybody talking about them for all the wrong reasons – and it’s not over for Don Leo Quixote yet.
That little gust from Doonbeg is picking up speed and Met Eireann has issued a red warning ahead of the Dail returning on Tuesday.
We can expect plenty of hot air there for sure…
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