[caption id="attachment_71571" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Villa Spada."]
To say that Michael D. Higgins has a new lease on life as a result of winning the Irish presidency is an understatement and then some. Before last November's vote, some commentators were fretting that Michael D. was a little on the old side and would be a bit of a fizzle after the high octane presidencies of his two immediate predecessors, Marys Robinson and McAleese.
Well, Higgins put those fears firmly to bed last week during a U.S. official visit that had more engagements in it than some heads of state would manage in a month.
A septuagenarian the man might be but he put paid to the idea that a man of his age in the Phoenix Park is there only for the grazing.
Indeed, IF tried to word count his collected speeches during his stops in New York and Boston and the computer started smoking! The Sawdoctors had the man down to a tee. He's still rockin'.
NEVER SAY NEVER
Ireland's new ambassador to the Vatican. David Cooney, presented his credentials to Pope Benedict last week but he headed back to Dublin before his feet became too attached to Roman soil. Cooney, who has work at the United Nations in New York under his diplomatic belt, will be posted to the Vatican but based in Dublin as a result of the Irish embassy to the Holy See being shuttered in order to save money.
However, according to the Irish Times, diplomatic efforts are underway to seek agreement from the Vatican to use the former Irish embassy, the Villa Spada, as a location for embassies to both Italy and to the Holy See.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has said the Cooney was having discussions with the Vatican authorities to see if agreement could be reached about both cohabiting in the same building.
"One of the difficulties we had was the insistence by the Vatican that we had to have two separate ambassadors, two separate embassies, two separate buildings.
In our present financial circumstances, I didn't think that was sustainable," Gilmore told RTE.
Cooney told the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee that he was having discussions with Vatican authorities about the use of the Villa Spada.
"That will take time. And, one of the things that he advised the committee yesterday was the necessity for him to be allowed to do that work behind the scenes which is where diplomatic effort is more effective. I've always said that if the Vatican do that (agree) that obviously we will look at the situation again," said Gilmore.
Two ambassadors in one house? Sure it would be Fr. Ted for diplomats. Now there's a thought and it provokes another. Imagine Fr. Jack let loose in the Vatican!
Eti-Lingus
A helping hand from a cash-rich airline like airline like Etihad would do Aer Lingus no harm at all given the current state of affairs and the fact that the former Irish flag carrier has to compete in the big blue sky without the ultimate underpinning it used enjoy courtesy of the Irish taxpayer.
Aer Lingus has a varied group of owners these days but for many it will always by THE Irish airline. The carrier marked 75 years last year which is no mean achievement when you consider that some of the titans of the skies (Pan AM and TWA by way of just two examples) no longer exist.
Mike Cronin, academic director of Boston College, and clearly an airline buff, penned a very attractive tome marking the anniversary and entitled "Doesn't Time Fly, Aer Lingus - Its History."
The book was actually published in Ireland, by Collins Press, but is available on this side of the Atlantic through Dufour Editions, (610)458-5005 or info@dufoureditions.com.
WAIT, THERE'S MORE
And speaking of books. Fr. Sean McManus is not done with his. His biographical account of his American struggle for justice in Northern Ireland has been a most popular read in recent months on this side of the big creek, but it turns out that the version on sale thus far is the Irish one. Now, there's an American edition, and in keeping with the spirit of America, it's bigger and bolder.
According to Fr. Sean, the U.S. edition, out any day now, will include 50 pages not in the Irish edition, and there will be more photos to boot. More anon.
