On Monday evening, the Edmund Burke Theatre in Dublin's Trinity College was sold out for the inaugural debate for DU Politics Society's 15th session. The speaker was American writer and commentator Gore Vidal.
The enterprising politics student who brought him to Ireland was 21-year-old Michael McDermott, the society's auditor. How did he manage it? "I just looked up his address in Who's Who and wrote a few times and asked him," Michael said, who is hoping to pursue a career in the media. PR companies, take note.
The Ed Burke stage temporarily looked like the set for Mastermind, with its spotlights and the pair of high-backed leather armchairs. Students in evening dress ushered the public to their seats, perhaps giving a trial outing to their Trinity Ball glad rags.
Among those in the audience were Senator David Norris, Pat Rabbitte, journalists Sam Smyth and Eoghan Harris, poet Derek Mahon, and Michael Laver, the head of Trinity's politics department.
Vidal, who received a standing ovation before he had uttered a word, spoke on chaos. It proved to be an apt topic, since degrees of chaos subsequently ensued with the sound quality of the microphones. After questions from journalist Mary Ellen Synon, the floor was open to the house.
What do Americans think of Clinton, one member of the audience inquired? "He proved he was a communist by wanting a national health service," came the quick answer. While no question fazed Gore Vidal, he did look slightly bewildered when the society got round to thanking their sponsors, and he learned that his visit to Ireland had been partially funded by an establishment named Lillies Bordello.
At the end of the evening, Vidal, who has agreed to be the honorary president of the DU Politics Society, held aloft his Waterford Crystal vase, in a gesture of triumph which will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched The Rose of Tralee.
