Dee Forbes’s costly cuisine: sometimes wining and dining is vital for business

You know how overseas friends planning to visit Dublin may ask you for restaurant recommendations? Not being much of a gourmet myself, I am not always sure what to suggest, but helpfully, I feel I have now been provided with a few ideas by former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes and her executive colleagues.

Through the channels of the Freedom of Information Act (and as reported by Philip Ryan in the Irish Independent), Ms Forbes has given us a brief tour of Dublin as a gastronomic centre. We learn that just before leaving RTÉ last June, she took her workmates for a farewell lunch at an Italian restaurant in Dublin’s Ballsbridge, Al Boschetto (the bill came to €394 and was paid with an RTÉ credit card). I’m delighted Ballsbridge has a nice Italian restaurant.

Osteria Lucio, at Grand Canal Quay, which is mentioned in the Michelin guides, was another dining spot for the former DG. The bill – we don’t know for how many – was €531, and the place looks most inviting.

There were also tabs for the Merrion Hotel (€198), which is worth visiting just for the stunning paintings on the wall; and Chapter One on Parnell Square (two stars from Michelin). In her native county of Cork, which is increasingly celebrated for its gastronomy, her RTÉ credit card was used at the five-star Hayfield Manor Hotel.

There will be criticism of Ms Forbes’s practice of fine-wining and dining (and bakery – she spent €40 on macaroons from a French patisserie).

There were overseas trips and hospitality elsewhere too, at the expense of, essentially, licence-fee payers. Ms Forbes’s colleagues, including the flaithiúlach Geraldine O’Leary, former commercial director, spent even more, and such watering holes as the Shelbourne, Cafe en Seine and the Ivy have been mentioned in dispatches.

Yet there is something to be said in defence of the tradition of treating business or professional contacts to posh nosh.

Since time immemorial, “breaking bread together” has been a way of forging a bond. A shared meal is a symbol of fellowship and often a persuasive means of achieving a point of solidarity. Deals have been done, business commitments forged, cordial relations sealed, over a decent lunch or dinner. In certain circles, your status can be assessed by the standard of meal you are offered: maybe the Michelin repast signified an extremely valuable connection.

Shared dining has played an important role in diplomacy. A French study of the meals served to dignitaries over the years , “A la table des diplomats”, reports how certain meals have, historically, been to the advantage of French diplomacy and politics.

General de Gaulle, who was anti-American, nonetheless bonded with Jacqueline Kennedy over an especially well-chosen lunch (he disliked dinner). Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroder enhanced Franco-German fellowship over some very decent cuisine, and even more decent clarets, Burgundies and Moselles.

By the way, Garret FitzGerald struck up a friendly link with Francois Mitterrand while at table: they discovered a common interest in French Catholic novelists of the 1930s – Bernanos, Mauriac – over the fish and fowl.

Although food and wine can underpin a useful working relationship, a bad culinary choice can go the other way. Margaret Thatcher was always suspicious of Germany, but sharing a meal with the gigantic Helmut Kohl put her right off – she was appalled at the huge plates of assorted sausage meats he offered her, and himself consumed. The meal was a disaster.

It would be a pity if too much of a begrudger’s attitude were attached to the fine cuisine and libation expenditures. In some cases, Ms Forbes was evidently expressing thanks to staff who she felt had done a good job: this can engender a productive esprit de corps.

Dublin, and Ireland, are international players in broadcasting and the performing arts, and the RTÉ director general should be entitled to splash on a cordon bleu blow-out every now and then. It oils the wheels of social intercourse.

Ms Forbes has declined to make any comment about her restaurant bills, or other issues connected with the Ryan Tubridy financial disclosures. She is said to be “unable” to respond to questions, and it’s not for me to judge someone who may have problems arising from a very public downfall.

However, should she agree to address questions about the €18,000 she spent on the RTÉ credit card, I would encourage the defence suggested – that breaking bread and sharing meals is a recognised tradition of schmoozing, often for a beneficial outcome. Perhaps we should all aspire to experiencing more of Ireland’s gastronomic delights.