Dignity is a word very often associated with Irish electioneering, whether it be sending candidates election literature that looks like a breakup text or announcing your candidacy from what looks like a tomb of the undead which is itself within an aquarium.
But Kildare Fine Gael TD, Bernard Durkan took a further step in the direction of diplomatic greatness by getting into a loud and incoherent shouting match in a Jobstownbridge hotel room earlier this week.
Though no doubt impressed by the many incisive and nuanced shouts and hollers from both sides on the night, the assembled crowd weren’t lucky enough to see said exchange come to a thrilling conclusion, as the beleaguered politician stormed out of the room.
We’d like to reiterate at this point that we have no stated position on the topic in question, namely allegations from the floor that the TD or his party have an undeclared financial interest in the building of wind farms in the county. Committed politicos that we are, our interest here is purely in our enthusiasm for, and pride in, the loudest and most intemperate examples of Irish democracy in action.
The Sliced Pan also want to remind you that if you were in the hotel that night, please contact us and let us know how things developed. We’re particularly interested in knowing whether his exit was really followed by a door slam, thundering upward footsteps and, moments later, the sound of Metallica’s Master of Puppets being played at high volume from an upstairs bedroom.
