Dustin as our President? Don’t rule it out just yet!
IT was Tuesday, November 19, 1996. I was sitting in the George pub opposite the Royal Courts of Justice in central London. I had just spent six weeks reporting on one on the most bizarre, hilarious, poignant and ultimately futile libel cases of all time. Former taoiseach Albert Reynolds had sued The Sunday Times for an article it had published in its UK edition with the headline: ‘Goodbye gombeen man – how a fib too far proved fatal.’ The story went on to allege that as taoiseach, Mr Reynolds deliberately misled the Dáil in the lead-up to the Government’s collapse in 1994.
After the verdict, where Reynolds won the case but was awarded a miserly penny in damages – I still have the penny by the way – we all retired to the pub across the road, including the jury!
The jurors had to put up with a lot during the trial – arcane details from Irish politics, argument and counter-argument – and some even fell ill. At one stage the jury was refused a dictionary by Judge Christopher French to explain the word ‘fib’. When an interview by Willie O’Dea TD was played, the learned judge intoned: ‘Members of the jury, did you understand the man in the moustache?’
So the jury’s decision to accept that Reynolds had not lied, but to humiliate him with zero damages – the judge changed it to a penny – left Reynolds with a legal bill of well over £1million. So I was keen to find out why the jury had done such a cruel, vindictive thing to Reynolds.
Some of the jury called me over – lo and behold they were Irish emigrants! I asked them why they came down so hard on Reynolds. ‘Because it was the likes of him that forced us to emigrate,’ they all replied. Their hatred of establishment politicians in Ireland – of all political hues – was palpable.
So when I read over Christmas a tweet from Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney declaring: ‘Looking forward to finalising a proposal allowing Irish citizens all over the world have the option to vote in presidential elections, it will change and broaden the nature of the presidency for the better’, my mind immediately went back to that conversation in London just over 21 years ago.
Given that more than 50% of the American people say they are of Irish extraction – and look at the president that country just elected – the prospects are mind-blowing.
However, the most recent Irish Government figures, from 2016, say there could be 3.5million Irish diaspora voters abroad – more than the Irish-based electorate of 3.2 million. The result could be hilarious, if it wasn’t so serious.
Remember, Irish people do not take lightly to changing their presidency – in May 2015 they roundly rejected the proposal to reduce the eligibility age for the Áras from 35 to 21 – practically no one campaigned for the change, and it was sunk by the ‘Jedward’ factor!
The French have a separate parliamentary constituency for their diaspora. Remember, Dustin the Turkey has tried to get elected to the Áras before – if this referendum goes through next year, he could be winging his way to the Phoenix Park!
‘ALEXA’ is the new gadget from Amazon that changed my life this Christmas! The small machine, pictured – no bigger than a kitchen roll – responds to voice commands. You simply ask it to play your favourite music, radio station or podcast and within seconds you have it. Better still, you can shout and Alexa will turn off an irritating presenter – not that there are many of them around! Alexa, by the way, characterises herself as female, and I predict it will be the gadget of the year ahead – she told me to tell you that!
A RAIL fare increase of 3% in the UK this week led to protests, boycotts and calls for ministerial resignations. Meanwhile, fare increases for our own trains, buses, trams and taxis are a regular occurrence. Some public transport services have seen price increases of over 50% in the last five years. These are Government-sanctioned increases – and no-one bats an eyelid. As another rail strike looms because workers were given a €500 shopping voucher for Dunnes Stores instead of a One4all Gift Card, it’s time to get moving.