Despite all the election talk and Government U-turns, things are stable politically. So stable, in fact, that the Taoiseach is off to South America on Monday. And he will be gone for over a week. Indeed, there is more likely to be a coup out there than at home.
Bertie Ahern is expected to announce the opening of an Irish embassy in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, when he arrives on Wednesday. He will be accompanied by Celia Larkin, John Campbell (the Irish ambassador to Portugal), John Campbell, and officials. The programme includes talks with President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, meetings with Irish missionaries, receptions for the Irish community and visits the Irish Studies Department of the University of Sao Paulo. There will be addresses the Federation of Industries, in both Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and the Brazilian Centre for International Relations; also a visit a favella, or shanty town, to see an Irish community project.
Tomorrow week, the Taoiseach and his party arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he will inaugurate the new Embassy chancery for our ambassador, Paula Slattery.
He will have talks with President Fernando de la Rua, address the National Council for International Relations and the Business Federation and lay wreaths at the monuments of the Liberator, General JosΘ de San Martin, and the founder of the Argentine Navy, Admiral William Brown of Foxford, Co Mayo.
He's back in Dublin on Wednesday 25th.
The two countries are the largest in South America and although no trade mission is travelling with the Taoiseach, he will pave the way for future business. Because we're in the EU and on the UN Security Council, everyone wants to meet them and we want to improve political and economic relations in general.