The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had nothing to say in the Dail this week when he was asked by FG's Enda Kenny to comment on the weekend remarks of one of his junior ministers. Eamonn O Cuiv, Dev's grandson, said he was upset that no one, not even his party, was defending Dev, particularly as portrayed in the film Michael Collins. FF, he told a Laois convention, could become a party without values, "just for the haves, getting elected for the sake of getting elected, with nothing to offer the Irish people". He had felt for a long time that the party had "fallen asleep".
When Dev was attacked, it was really an attack on FF, and it wasn't his or Sile's (de Valera) position to lead the charge in defending him, as it could be alleged that it was for family reasons. But when no one else was willing, he had to. As for the movie - it didn't do justice to Michael Collins either, as his "lovable personality wasn't portrayed at all".
And why was Dev being attacked of late? The grandson thought it was because of "the grip that he still has on the minds of the people, because if that hold was not destroyed the people could not be moulded into whatever model they have for us".