New leader, new style:Brian Cowen will bring a different approach to the job of Taoiseach, writes Political Correspondent Deaglán de Bréadún
DESPITE HIS lengthy time in politics, Brian Cowen remains something of an unknown quantity to the media and the general public. In a BBC report on his accession, he was described as a "gruff new prime minister" with the personality of "a particularly forbidding Christian Brother".
It is certainly true that he has a shorter fuse than his predecessor, but Bertie Ahern was so forbearing he could make Francis of Assisi look cranky. It took the special political skills of Fine Gael's Gay Mitchell to crack Bertie's composure on the famous occasion in the Dáil when Ahern irascibly and repeatedly denounced him as "a waffler - you've been years around here waffling".
By and large, those who know him would confirm that Cowen is quite good-humoured and laid-back in manner. He likes a joke and a laugh and famously enjoys a "pint with the lads". His skills as a mimic are well-known in political circles. In the days when he needed to be less discreet, he could do a very convincing imitation of Bertie Ahern and his take-off of Peter Mandelson, when the latter was secretary of state for Northern Ireland, was considered worthy of television entertainer Mike Yarwood.
The gruff side tends to surface in Dáil confrontations, but if the spin doctors try to manufacture a new, decaffeinated version of Cowen for the television cameras, they will do him a disservice. You can't turn a bruiser into a pussycat.
Bertie Ahern could absorb criticism like a sponge. A born conciliator, his inclination was to go a piece of the road with everybody. The ambivalence and ambiguity of his public utterances were an obvious advantage.
Whether in English or Irish, Cowen speaks in clear, complete sentences. People will have a better idea where they stand with the new Taoiseach. Given the scale of the economic challenges that lie ahead, such clarity will be essential.
Like his predecessor, the Offalyman is generous with his time for the media. But frequently, Ahern did not say very much and his pronouncements were difficult to parse and analyse. Cowen usually speaks at greater length, but does not give much away either.
Life for the media may be dull under the Cowen regime compared to the Bertie era. He's not up before any tribunal and is a happily married family man. One tuned-in political observer said journalists might end up taking a renewed interest in neglected subjects like Northern Ireland.
His first big challenge will be to get the Lisbon Treaty ratified on June 12th. The fact that his predecessor lost the initial vote on Nice in 2001 did not prevent him going on to win two more elections.
But although a referendum defeat need not be fatal, it will be a bad start for Cowen if the treaty goes down in flames.
Conscious of this fact, no doubt, Cowen rallied the troops at the party's national executive in a rousing speech behind closed doors on Tuesday evening. The Irish Times understands that, putting aside his prepared script, he pointed out that 10 new member states joined the EU during Ireland's European presidency. But now these countries were looking to Ireland to do the right thing in the referendum.
It is possible to imagine Bertie Ahern on the republican wing of the Labour Party, but Brian Cowen is quintessential Fianna Fáil. The family tradition in politics goes back decades and, when the national executive chose him as the new party leader this week, Cowen said there were "giants" at his shoulder in the form of predecessors like Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass.
Cowen's style will be more Lemass than de Valera. Although he can generate high-flown rhetoric with the best of them, his approach will be pragmatic and businesslike in the Lemass mould. Though not averse to the glad-handing grip-and-grin requirements of his trade, he can never hope to achieve Ahern's extraordinary rapport with the public.
This was in evidence at yesterday's 1916 commemoration at Arbour Hill, when the outgoing taoiseach was mobbed by autograph seekers and admirers after the ceremonials had concluded.
For his part, Cowen appeared very relaxed for someone about to take over the most responsible position in the country, despite being in proximity to members of the outgoing cabinet, each of whose fate he held in his hands.
The fact that no details of the new cabinet line-up were leaked in the days before the announcement was an indication of the style Cowen will bring with him. Like Lemass, he will focus on the tasks and devote a very small portion of his time worrying about how it will play out in the media. In sporting terms, Offaly are the champions and it's a whole new ball game.