A tense 20 minutes, but no ill wind in Reilly lift fiasco

We’re not yet over the excitement of James Reilly’s thrilling liberation on Thursday from a stalled lift in Grangegorman.

We’re not yet over the excitement of James Reilly’s thrilling liberation on Thursday from a stalled lift in Grangegorman.

Poor Kathleen Lynch looked very strained after spending nearly 20 minutes locked in a small steel box with Dicey.

We’re not surprised.

Mixed beans and chick peas were on the lunchtime menu in the Leinster House salad bar. We won’t even mention the parsnip soup or marrowfart peas.

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If either of them had made the wrong choice before heading off to launch the new Phoenix care complex we would have gained a new definition of the phrase “cabinet rift”.

People could have been killed.

Irish Times photographer Brenda Fitzsimons, who has covered wars in the Middle East, tells us it was very tense inside that lift.

But everything turned out well in the end. The launch was attended by lots of bigwigs and the local Dublin Central politicians were out in force.

One man who played a huge role in bringing about this impressive redevelopment of the Grangegorman site was not present.

However, we hear Bertie Ahern had a long tour of the facility last week.

On a sadder note, “Bringbackthebert”, a horse owned by a Wexford syndicate including Fianna Fáil TD John Browne, galloped his last during the week. Dropped down dead after a run on the beach.

And no. This column will not be making any jokes about Bertie burgers, thank you very much.