Any excuse

By Mick Flavin

Meanwhile…

There are some who accuse the Taoiseach of lying about such matters. I have absolutely no doubt he has not lied. To accuse Mr Kenny of lies is to misjudge the seriousness of the problem.

When he told us some months ago that workers contacted him to ask why they had a little more in their wage packets, we knew it wasn’t true. If you’ve a question about your wages, you don’t ring the Taoiseach, you ring Brenda in Accounts.

Later, he might have got away with his man-with-two-pints story, if he hadn’t repeated it a few weeks later, as though precisely the same thing had happened again.

He boasted about telling Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras how to fix his economy – telling him the Irish Government imposed no income tax, Vat or PRSI increases. Of course, this was nonsense. The Taoiseach was saying things that weren’t true, his explanation for this was threadbare – but it all got glossed over.

There is always something real at the centre of these yarns. Then, Enda elaborates, exaggerates, makes up little scenes, adds detail and dialogue, and in no time, he appears to believe his own fantasies.

Eh, folks, we need to talk, yet again, about Enda (Gene Kerrigan, Sunday Independent)