About five years ago, I got the chance to follow our dear departed leader Bertie Ahern around Leinster House for the day. It was a times interesting but mostly very very boring, until at one stage I found myself in a little room with his make-up artist.
We chatted for a few moments before Bertie wandered in, and I left. The reason: he didn’t like people around when his face was being put on.
At the time Bertie’s obscene make-up costs were a non-issue. The country was flusher than the average Fianna Fáil supporter’s face.
But now five years on, now that its own pockets are pinched, the country has shaken itself out of its selective ignorance, and hopefully this crazy FAS case will tip us over the edge.
It’s really been a mad week. Harney and beauty appeared in the same sentence. Rody Molloy showed there is such a things as accountability. Brian Cowen’s wonderful hands-over-the-eyes, fingers-in-the-ears (wonderful display of dexterity that ) defence of everyone ever.
Despite flying costs that would make Richard Branson squirm, the 410 quid on hair and nail treatments is grabbing most of the headlines. Jeez, we’d have liked to at least see some value for money. But Mary Harney’s bob is the Richard Madeley of haircuts - we haven’t seen a noticeable difference in appearance in bloody years.
A bit of colour, a few highlights maybe and there might not have been such an outcry. Or maybe not. A quick bit of sums, and I worked out that Mary Harney and co’s little trip to Florida at our expense cost the equivalent of 1,333 Ryanair trips to Berlin. It’s a baffling cost, that we have to foot the bill for.
Bertie, despite his fondness for blush and concealer, didn’t start the cycle of waste. But it continues today. It’s disgusting, it’s our money, and ultimately it’s up to us to stop it.
