Not even Eurovision - a show with more receptions than entrants - had as many parties and presentations as surrounded the Tour de France in Ireland this week. One wonders whether the French dignitaries who travelled here for the Irish leg of the tour realised they would spend so much of their time toasting themselves and their hosts. Certainly, there was little sign of the actual cyclists during the week, which leads one to suspect they knew all too well just how gruelling the tour schedule is - and that's without going near a bike.
The fun kicked off on Wednesday when the French ambassador, Henri de Coignac, together with his wife Nadine de Coignac, invited the tour's organisational team to the residence in Ailesbury Road for cocktails. The head honchos on the French end of the tour seemed to consist almost entirely of people named Jean. There was Jean-Marie Leblanc, the director-general of the Societe de Tour de France; Jean Claude Killy, president of the Amaury Sports Organisation, which owns the Tour de France; Jean Louis Paget, the commissaire general of the tour; Jean Lelangue, in charge of the print media; and Jean Francois Pescheaux, director of sports services. Holding their own in the middle of this near-monopoly of Jeans were Agnes Pierret, director of administration and Philippe Sudres, who is in charge of TV and radio media.
Meanwhile, down at the Shelbourne dog track, one of the more unusual social events of the Tour was kicking off. Noel Hynes, managing director of the track, invited Ireland's three former Tour de France cyclists, an Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and Martin Earley, as well as other cyclists to have a slightly more informal race - around the dog track. Well not the track as such - "The track is sacred ground," laughed Noel - but around a specially built course on the grass inside the track. There was almost as much interest in this as in the actual Tour with media units from Channel 4, BBC Radio and French national TV arriving to see whether the Tour had indeed gone to the dogs.
The next day, Thursday, there was a succession of welcoming events. There was a coffee morning with the Lord Mayor, John Stafford at the Mansion House - all the Jeans plus Agnes and Philippe went along, of course. Next there was an exhibition opening in the Gallery of Photography in Temple Bar, with the work of Tour de France photographer Graham Watson on display for the first time. Then it was full tilt into the Taste of Dublin reception in the Civic Offices, to which 1,200 accredited world media personnel were invited.
In the midst of this multi-lingual scrum were spotted Pat McQuaid and Alan Rushton, the tireless organisers of the Irish leg of the Tour; Patrick O'Connor, the Irish ambassador to France; Ireland's three cyclists mentioned above, and yet again, the indefatigable Jeans et al.
Many of the dignitaries at the Civic Offices arrived in black-tie, ready to go straight to O'Reilly Hall at UCD, where the official dinner for the arrival of the first leg of the Tour de France was taking place. Hosted by the Dublin International Sports Council and the Ireland Fund of France, the dinner was also an opportunity for the Ireland Fund to present Stephen Roche and an Sean Kelly with the prestigious Wild Geese Award, given to those who have made an outstanding contribution in raising the image of Ireland abroad.
The dinner was addressed by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who was accompanied by Celia Larkin, and Pierre Joannon, president of the Ireland Fund of France, and the Tour de France dignitaries were joined by Irish worthies including the Minister for Tourism and Cycling, Jim McDaid; the Lord Mayor John Stafford; Ron Bolger, head of Telecom Eireann; Tony and Robyn O'Reilly; Gavin and Alison Doody; Chris Kane of Bord Failte; Ray Bates of the National Lottery and the two cyclists' wives, Linda Kelly and Lydia Roche.
On Friday, the main event was the teams' presentation which was broadcast live from the courtyard in Dublin Castle. RTE presenter Mary Kennedy and cyclist Stephen Roche (a busy man, by all accounts) chatted to a number of people including well-known cyclists, team managers and the French minister for sport, Marie George Buffet, who was accompanied by her husband called, believe it or not, Jean Pierre Buffet.