Mystery surrounds Leo and Simon’s chicken dinner

Envious ministers have been wondering when they will get the call to dine with Taoiseach Leo varadkar after Leo brought Health Minister simon Harris out to dinner at the fashionably utilitarian Camden Rotisserie on Camden street Lower, Dublin 2, last Thursday.

Given the Taoiseach is not hugely sociable and simon supported Leo’s rival simon Coveney in the Fine Gael leadership race, the high-profile meeting was unexpected.

one minister quipped: ‘That’s a surprise; Leo was going to sack him three months ago.’

so, what did Leo and simon talk about over pulled chicken? Leo was circumspect, when asked by the irish Mail on sunday, saying it was ‘just a quick bite to eat, just to talk about health issues coming up in the next few months and what we might do to improve things’.

But this explanation didn’t satisfy some politicians who are hungry to know why Leo found sufficient time to break bread with the previously unloved simon.

Given that the rotisserie prides itself on being the place where ‘chicken in Dublin just went up a notch’ one minister asked: ‘Could it be the case that something similar has happened to simon?’ They added: ‘it is not the first time food has been used as a metaphor; remember the tale of Haughey shooting two ducks and sending them to a political rival with the message: “shot at dawn.”’

other ministers were more optimistic with one saying: ‘Maybe simon is finally working his charms.’

The Health Minister has maintained a modest silence over the affair.

However, speculation is expected to continue among Government ministers and TDs for some time over what happened when Leo met simon for that chicken dinner...