The Tall Ships have sailed away again, but they have left us with many memories: of the skyline near Dublin port intersected by their graceful old wooden masts and yards, contrasting with the familiar steel gantries of modern times; of the city quays alive with throngs of sailors and spectators; of Mexican naval cadets singing their way up the Liffey to Sir John Rogerson's Quay; of enthusiastic amateurs spoofing happily about the respective merits of barques, ketches and sloops. On Tuesday, every vantage point around the bay was lined with people of all ages gazing at the unforgettable farewell Parade of Sail.
In this hype-heavy era, when the demands of television, marketing men, agents and sponsors have sucked the freshness out of so many headlined extravaganzas, how refreshing it has been to experience an event that comfortably exceeded the claims of its own publicity. Dublin has not seen its like since the great days of sail in centuries gone by; and one can only hope that these visitors from a bygone age will grace us with their presence once again.
The Tall Ships brought the capital a welcome windfall in extra revenue for restaurants, pubs, hotels and guesthouses. Impossible to quantify, but just as real, is the lift they brought to people's spirits at the end of a wet and dreary summer, and just a week after the atrocity in Omagh that plunged the country into anguish and gloom. President McAleese rightly captured this aspect of the event when, speaking in the courtyard of Dublin Castle, she told the participants: "You have come in from the sea to lift us . . . and can I thank you for that?"
There was a more calculated sense of timing in the announcement made by the Minster for Defence, Mr Smith, aboard the LE Aisling in Scotsman's Bay, before he reviewed the departing Parade of Sail. Reversing a decision by his predecessor, Mr Andrews, he pledged that his Department would pay half the cost of restoring the Asgard, Erskine Childers's historic gun-running yacht, and the State's first sail-training vessel, which has been languishing for years in the yard of Kilmainham Gaol.
The decision is welcome, if overdue; but it must also have seemed like an easy political gesture to the crew of the Aisling and to the other underpaid and overworked men and women of the Naval Service. For there is deep suspicion among senior officers about the Government's intentions in the wake of last month's Price Waterhouse review of the Naval Service and Air Corps.
While accepting the report, the Government abandoned a key recommendation to appoint an independent chairperson to oversee its implementation, and linked the review to the forthcoming White Paper on Defence, which is not expected before the year 2000. In short, sailors fear that they will continue to be poor relations of soldiers, that the positive measures proposed by Price Waterhouse will be fudged and delayed, and that, in the meantime, shortage of resources, lack of direction and low morale will continue to be their lot. If the Minister wishes to gainsay this impression, he will have to do more than help restore the Asgard and wave from the deck of a ship in Scotsman's Bay.