IN Rome last week, a hitherto little-known secret weapon in the Irish Government's diplomatic armoury was unveiled when Minister for the Marine, Michael Woods, applied his silver-tongued tenor voice to the business of bilateral relations with Italy. The occasion was a dinner party at the residence of the Irish Ambassador to Italy, Joe Small, to mark the President, Mrs McAleese's five-day visit last week.
Given her busy schedule, the President and Martin McAleese left early, but the Ambassador prevailed on his guests to tarry awhile, promising he would unveil a "secret weapon" which duly revealed itself to be Dr Woods in a rendition of (among others) Paddy Reilly. The Minister's fine voice soon set a singsong going the like of which Quidnunc's man-in-Rome has neither seen nor heard in 14 years of assiduous embassy attendance. Italian-Irish relations are clearly improving.