Newstalk's nuisance calls; lawyer made to belt up; Donie's bullocks; raffle of destiny; how Lord Killanin thwarted a spy; Mary Hanafin's golf course education; RTÉ's senior moment over the Cosgraves; Fine Gael love affairs
A major row is brewing between radio station Newstalk and State officials who say they are being "bullied" and "embarrassed" by a phone-in show which has adopted the practice of putting through calls to them while live on air.
Several workers in the HSE and a number of government departments have fielded calls from the Your Callmorning show, only to be told that their conversation is being broadcast live. Presenter Brenda Power rings on behalf of listeners with problems, who say they cannot find a way through the layers of bureaucracy to get a proper hearing. Power attempts to plead their case with big wigs like Prof Brendan Drumm and various Ministers, adopting a "won't take no for an answer" approach to the officials and press officers who end up taking the calls.
This has led to consternation among the workers involved, and many have contacted their unions. There has been talk of blacklisting all calls from the news station, while it is understood the unions are contemplating taking a case to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
On Wednesday, the Government Press Secretary tried to defuse the situation by meeting the station's chief executive, Elaine Geraghty. Eoghan O Neachtain said he asked for the meeting after a number of department press officers came to him with their concerns. "We enjoy an excellent professional relationship with the station's staff and would hope that continues," he said.
"Eoghan came to us and put forward their position," says Geraghty. "He just wanted us to know how they felt." However, she added that it is business as usual on the show. "We're not going to make an apology for trying to solve problems for people," she says, adding, "what is important to us is to get the decision-makers on the air." The problem is, the decision-makers don't get on the air - it's only the paid workers who are taking the flak.
"We can't have a situation where there is an open microphone in government offices," one senior press officer told us. "For any Minister, never mind an official who is not authorised to make decisions, to go on air and expose themselves to questions without first checking out the story involved would be absolutely crazy. I've told the station we will not have any further conversations with them until we are told we are not going direct on air." The situation was further exacerbated when the programme broadcast the mobile phone number of Minister Seán Haughey. Ms Geraghty says that was "unfortunate" and was a technical issue with the delaying system.
The station has not had any contact from the unions, and intends to continue with the practice of transmitting calls live on air. It remains to be seen how long that lasts, particularly if the HSE and government departments decide not to talk to Newstalk.
Salih Osman, the renowned African human rights lawyer and winner of the 2007 EU Peace Award was in Dublin this week as a guest of MEP Eoin Ryan. During his two-day visit he met President McAleese, the Taoiseach and a number of NGOs. He also had a meeting with defence minister Willie O'Dea, who briefed him on the deployment of Irish troops to Chad.
Mr Osman has been jailed three times by the Sudanese government, and recently served seven months for speaking out on behalf of his clients. Police harassment is an occupational hazard for him in Darfur, where law and order has completely broken down.
On his way to Government Buildings on Thursday after his meeting with the President, his car stopped at the lights outside Trinity College. A garda roared up on a motorbike and tapped on his window.
The startled lawyer rolled down his window, looking somewhat apprehensive, whereupon he was instructed to buckle his seatbelt, be more careful in future and was sent on his way.
We were determined to make this week's offering a Senator Donie Cassidy-free zone. However, there was a very educational moment in the Seanad during the week, where Senator Paul Coghlan took a dim view of Donie's recent thoughts on road safety. "Does the Leader agree on mature reflection that his suggestion last week about driving on the other side of the road was a cockamamie idea and a total scata bullán?" asked Paul.
On Planet Donie, the grass is always green. He welcomed the remark. "Senator Coghlan complimented me on my views last week on road safety. The Senator is a long-time Member of this House and I fully agree with him regarding the media coverage, which has been incredible. We put road safety centre stage and to get such media coverage was unbelievable." "Cockamamie" and "scata bullán" don't appear to be in the Cassidy lexicon. We contacted Senator Coghlan for clarification. "I suppose you could translate it as a number of male animals. Although I would say it means 'a load of bullocks'."
No canteens of cutlery or boxes of biscuits here. When Fianna Fáil run a raffle, they do it right.
The annual Cairde Fáil limited members super draw closes on February 28th and with the quality of prizes on offer it might be worth shelling out the €50 for a ticket - even if it comes with automatic membership of Cairde Fáil.
First prize is a BMW series one, second prize is a Renault Megane, third prize is a Ford Focus and fourth prize is a Renault Clio. To keep the interest going, 43 high definition 42in televisions are also up for grabs. Going by the current list prices of the cars, it all adds up to a prize fund in the region of €125,000.
They'll have to sell a lot of tickets to turn a good profit, but with about 60,000 registered FF members, many of whom have formed ticket-buying syndicates, the party hopes to make a handsome profit.
Cash will not be given in lieu of prizes. Winners should not forget to ask for receipts.
Seamus Martin, formerly of this parish and various points around the globe, launches his memoirs in Waterstones of Dawson Street on Wednesday. The brother - aka Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin - will be doing the honours. It's always handy to have a bishop in the family for these types of occasion.
"Good Times and Bad. From the Coombe to the Kremlin - a memoir" is a rattling good read, according to those who got their hands on a preview copy. And contrary to popular belief in some quarters, the Kremlin is not a chipper in Rialto.
Before he joined The Irish Times and moved on to become Moscow Correspondent, Seamus enjoyed many madcap years in the world of Dublin journalism.
He recalls in the book how he bumped into Lord Killanin in 1991, and the two repaired to his Lordship's gaff (as he would say himself) for a few jars.
"After the umpteenth whiskey," recalls Seamus, "he told this story about the British spy Guy Burgess. Killanin had been a contemporary of Burgess's at Eton and Cambridge so he recognised him immediately. He saw him in Stephen's Green making a nuisance of himself by drunkenly propositioning young men.
"Killanin said he would take a piece of advice given him by his father on how to deal with drunken nuisances: 'I was told the best thing to do was to get even more drink into the nuisance until he was incapable of being a nuisance any more'." Armed with this advice, Killanin brought Burgess to the Shelbourne - the spy was staying there with his mother - and succeeded in getting him into a state of semi-consciousness. Thus neutralised, the nuisance was carried to his room by a couple of obliging porters.
Shortly after this incident, Killanin read in the old Evening Mail that a British diplomat had been held for being drunk in charge of a car. He subsequently learned that the British embassy had pulled strings and had Burgess released.
Which means the Garda released a British traitor at the request of the British embassy.
Education minister Mary Hanafin should be on her way back home about now from her visit to Palm Springs in Florida, where she attended the Ireland-US Winter Council meeting.
There was a packed schedule. Wednesday night saw the opening cocktail reception at the home of a Mr Bill Finneran. On Thursday, the council held a lunch meeting which was addressed by Dr John Hegarty, the Provost of Trinity College. The topic was nice and broad: "Education".
The main daytime event on Friday was "Golf at Mayocoo Lakes Country Club". Shotgun start.
Friday was Mary's big night. The Minister was guest speaker at a private black-tie dinner hosted by Cynthia and Mike Gibbons in the Orange Garden of the Everglades Club.
Among the guests rubbing shoulders with Mary were the CEO and vice-president of Estee Lauder, the vice-president of Budweiser and the president of Fox TV.
The goodie bags must have been great. Although news of the rousing applause from the public gallery for her party colleague Mary O'Rourke in the Dáil on Wednesday night, after O'Rourke criticised the department's approach to autism services, may have taken away a little of the pleasure.
The Mahon tribunal has been dragging on for a long time, but readers who logged on to the RTÉ news website on Tuesday for the latest thrilling dispatch from Dublin Castle will have been surprised by the accompanying photograph of that day's witness, Liam Cosgrave jnr.
Liam jnr has not fared particularly well during his dealings with the tribunal, but even so, he appeared to have aged rather dramatically since he last stood before the judges.
Thankfully, somebody old enough to know the difference finally spotted the mistake and the photo of Liam Cosgrave (87) was taken down.
Valentine's Day came early in the Dáil on Wednesday, when Fine Gael deputy Denis Naughten was seen proudly showing a Valentine card to his frontbench colleagues during leader's questions. There was much oohing and aaahing as the card passed along the line.
Turns out the card came from his 11-week-old daughter Ava, with some help from her brother Liam. We suspect new mum Mary had a hand in its composition. Congratulations to Mary and Denis, and also to his fellow frontbencher, Simon Coveney, who recently announced his engagement to childhood sweetheart, Ruth Ferney.