A good friend of mine is currently reading Pat Leahy’s Showtime - The Inside Story Of Fianna Fáil In Power and sent me a quote from it which he found noteworthy.
The passage refers to Fianna Fáil’s period in opposition from 1994 to 1997 and how certain frontbenchers were lacklustre and even disinterested in their roles:
“The IFA in particular complained to Ahern on one occasion when during a visit to IFA HQ the agriculture spokesman Brian Cowen appeared wholly disinterested. On another occasion during a visit to Brussels to represent the party and attend a key Brussels meeting along with the IFA, Cowen was to appear on Morning Ireland. Minutes before the interview was scheduled to start his staffers still couldn’t locate him. One staffer entered his room to find the agriculture spokesman fast asleep just minutes before appearing on the most listened to radio show in the country.”
Things hardly seem to have changed now that man is Taoiseach. Little wonder my friend said: “It emphasises that Cowen has tended to switch off badly in roles that didn’t suit him.”
