The inauguration of Mrs Mary McAleese was, as Mrs Mary Robinson's had been in 1990, a semiotic jamboree. Symbols, from coats of arms; choice of guests; the measured, fashionable, pompingdown mix of the formal and the informal; right the way through even to Tony Gregory's tielessness, were the day's vernacular. Forget building bridges - style as substance was the day's real theme.
Brian Farrell and Una Claffey "Dimblebyed" for the occasion. "Dimblebying" involves talking very slowly and reverentially. It is the opposite of iconoclasm in that its primary aim is to emphasise, rather than pulverise, gravitas. At heart, "Dimblebying" seeks to reflect the world as the powerful would like to believe "ordinary" people see it. In that, it is a form - a powerful form - of PR.
Not that Mrs McAleese's inauguration needed RTE commentators to supply PR. There was poetry this time, as there had been with Mrs Robinson. But, just as it did in 1990, it seemed like the poetry of PR - the appropriation of what is generally considered to be a high culture literary form used in the service of aggrandising the State and the stater.
It's not that incoming Presidents should be barred from quoting poetry. But part of the problem for Mrs McAleese was that Mrs Robinson had already done well with poetry.
Indeed, the major PR dilemma which Mrs McAleese faced was how to out-Robinson Robinson, not just on poetry but overall. Invitations to come dance with the President in Ireland and cheerleading, albeit justified cheer-leading, for Mna na hEireann have achieved a kind of classic hits status within the genre.
Still, it's hard to imagine Mrs McAleese as ever being "the other woman". Sure, she is the second woman President in succession, so she cannot possibly have anything like the novelty value of Mrs Robinson. But she stressed that she is the first Ulster-born President and, even if she is seen abroad as a kind of Robinson clone, she has here - mainly thanks to her enemies - a very strong and well-defined identity.
Most commentators have remarked on the informal tone of much of the occasion. This is fair, although it should be remembered that organised informality (800 children from every county; the 26 chosen people; the President's walkabouts) is, in reality, a false informality . . . a stage-managed PR-ish informality.
And that was the dominant impression left by TV coverage of the inauguration. The tone, to be fair, correctly promoted the idea of inclusion; apart from the rudely trenchant reference to "a wonderful millennium gift to the Child of Bethlehem, whose 2,000th birthday we will soon celebrate". Muslims, Jews and other nonChristian religious groups can hardly have felt thoroughly included after that.
But packing the yard of Dublin Castle with schoolchildren - to a sceptical disposition this could be seen as a particularly crass way of ensuring an easily-led rent-a-crowd - worked well. They cheered "Mary, Mary", as if our latest President was some kind of Spice Girl.
As ever on such State occasions, the shadow of post-colonial insecurity was discernible. Dublin Castle itself, with its throne-room, coats of arms and standards on walls, does not so much preserve a particular kind of history as venerate it. Similarly, there usually is, even if it is seldom loudly stated, an undercurrent of comparing our pomp to Brit-pomp.
The death 10 weeks ago of Princess Diana saw a pompingdown for her funeral. Tony Blair with his catchy, if absurdly contradictory "people's princess", had ensured that. In the process, he became more presidential than any previous British Prime Minister. The irony here - in our Republic - is the absurd desire of some voters to promote a pomped-up, regal tone in our Presidency.
By definition, an elected head of state has to have greater status and more credibility than an unelected monarch. But blinded and beguiled by media which, for all the talk about invasions of privacy, really promote the values of royalty, some citizens, it seems, would rather be subjects.
Mrs Robinson did become increasingly regal towards the end of her reign, sorry, Presidency. In an otherwise largely successful stint in the Park, this was not quite in keeping with the spirit of a Republic. There will be those who will want our new President to act as a sort of Queen Mary II. We will find out along the way whether Mrs McAleese's character is more accurately described as megalomaniac or republican.
She could, of course, as her enemies claim, be both. But she can't be regal and republican. Mixing formal and informal elements was the best blend. But, in truth - and this is no reflection on Mrs McAleese - we live in an age in which PR is much more influential than poetry.
Come to the edge . . . and you'll see that, nowadays, even informality is as stage-managed as formality. That's just the way it is when the Celtic Tiger wants to make an impression.
The President, Mrs McAleese, with some of the 800 schoolchildren, picked from every county, who were invited to the inauguration.