Dáil Sketch: Suspicions that Leinster House has its own time zone were confirmed yesterday when the Dáil marked Europe Day, writes Frank McNally.
24 hours after the rest of the continent. But as well as adjusting her watch, Mariann Fischer Boel had to struggle with culture shock as she became the first EU commissioner to address the chamber.
She began by expressing gratitude for the invitation to "this great parliament, the seat of Irish democracy". An hour later, amid noisy questioning on the state of Irish agriculture, the seat of democracy might not have been as comfortable as she wished. Putting on a brave face, she said: "I like this - it's more undisciplined that I'm used to."
The agriculture commissioner's visit was a lesson for anyone who doubts the importance of the EU in Irish life. Attendance by rural deputies could not have been higher unless Ms Fischer Boel had previously announced a new headage payment for TDs. Even the seating arrangements reflected the event's novelty.
The commissioner was accommodated at a special table in front of the second block of Government benches. Normally this is where the PDs and a few FF stragglers sit. The front rows are almost always empty, as if part of some set-aside scheme. Not that the cameras trained on Ms Fischer Boel would have been a factor - perish the thought - but yesterday the seats immediately behind her were full.
As if to stress the unusual nature of the debate, the commissioner described a contribution by Johnny Brady as "the music of the future". The Meath Fianna Fáiler has rarely been described in such lyrical terms although, to be more exact, Ms Fischer Boel was welcoming his question about rural development "because this is where one hears the music of the future for agriculture policy".
She couldn't say the same for Fine Gael's Tom Hayes, in whose contributions she heard only the music of the past.The Tipperary TD led a cross-party céilí band of sceptics who questioned what he called the "pious stuff" they were hearing. Irish sugar production had been closed down, dairy farmers were abandoning milk, and EU-imposed veterinary costs were ruinous. He added: "The reality is that [ young farmers] are being driven off the land."
If she was unused to Dáil decorum, the matronly Dane was unfazed. Regretting the FG man's pessimism, she said: "If the deputy is making speeches in the countryside, I understand why young people are staying out of business." Then, perhaps disturbed by the howls of laughter from the Government benches, she added: "I did not want to be rude."
She fielded a question from Fianna Fáil TD for Cork East, Ned O'Keeffe - whose rich Cork accent presents problems even to native English speakers - as if it was in Danish . After Mr O'Keeffe persisted in doubting her line on milk prices, she said the sceptics could discuss it "until my aeroplane leaves".