The Irish, the rest of the world learned this week, know how to run an effective election campaign. Years of experience in the vagaries of PR, as opposed to the more laid-back list system of continental Europe, stood us in good stead when we swept aside all competition and astounded ourselves and the world by taking the first seat for non-permanent membership of the UN security council.
How was it done? Much praise has rightly been directed at our diplomats but the politicians played their part. David Andrews got the campaign up and running at the DFA and appointed Richard Ryan Ambassador to the UN in New York specifically to get us on the council; since Brian Cowen took over from Andrews, in January, he had 107 bilateral meetings with other foreign ministers. The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, met 48 heads of state or government. The Tanaiste, Mary Harney, had 20 meetings at her level, and between them other ministers had 75 bilaterals with their counterparts. Although the vote might not have been the first item on each agenda, it was sought on each occasion and then followed up.
Our Iveagh House mandarins canvassed the world's highways and byways as the smallest nation's vote equalled that of the biggest. A week before the secret ballot in the UN chamber, a team comprising Dick O'Brien, Eamon O'Toole, John Campbell and Anne Anderson, our Ambassadors respectively to Australia, the Vatican, Portugal and the UN in Geneva, and Joe Hayes, Ass Sec, descended on New York. They divided the world between them and set to work. On the morning of the vote, along with Richard Ryan and Mary Whelan, the campaign leaders, they canvassed in the lobby and then checked the chamber itself and any missing delegate whose vote had been promised was tracked down.
That night, Tuesday, Ryan threw a big party at the ambassadorial residence, No 1 East End Ave, which overlooks the East River and was purchased by Frank Aitken in the 1950s. DFA's Secretary General Padraig McKernan, who had flown out for the vote, was full of praise for them all.