IT'S EASY knowing that something important is imminent. More ministers appear to be staying at home this St Patrick's Day than is normally the case. Not flying the green flag abroad are the Tanaiste, Dick Spring, who, to be accurate, always stays in Tralee, Ivan Yates, Brendan Howlin, Michael Noonan, Mervyn Taylor and Proinsias De Rossa. Most will be reviewing parades in their constituencies.
Alan Dukes is going to Moscow as a guest of Aer Rianta, Minister for Defence Sean Barrett will be in the Middle East for the week and will drop in our troops in Lebanon and Ruairi Quinn will be at a sedate ECOFIN meeting in Brussels on our national day. The rest say they don't know what their plans are.
Spare a thought, though, for the Minister for Enterprise and Employment Richard Bruton. On St Patrick's Day he will start the morning in New York, by midday he will be in Chicago and in the evening he attends a function in Los Angeles - all in the cause of getting jobs for Ireland, his spokesman says. But Quidnunc wonders how many meals in one day does all this travel mean and will the shamrock in the lapel bear up through the time zones?