TWO former Taoisigh, John Bruton and Albert Reynolds, continue to labour within the Dail but three others have left the public arena - Liam Cosgrave, Jack Lynch and Charles Haughey for reasons too complicated to detail here. The seventh living Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald, is, however, canvassing for a new job. He wants to be the fourth Chancellor of the National University of Ireland in succession to Bishop William Walsh, Eamon de Valera and Ken Whitaker. Organising his campaign is none other than former Labour Minister Ruairi Quinn, who, one would have thought, has his hands full as director of elections for Adi Roche. While countering black propaganda in one campaign he is trying to get the vote out in the other. The NUI process is so cumbersome and non-user friendly as to be almost a secret. Some 150,000 NUI graduates have a vote but must ask for their ballot papers. By the middle of this week, only 500 had done so. The poll closes on Wednesday. The process is vast, unwieldy and expensive but when it was suggested that the franchise might be confined to the 35member Seanad itself, some graduates threatened court action and the race is now on.
Garret's opponents are Pierce Purcell, a teacher from Tipperary, and Dr Patrick Jones, a Carlow-based retired scientist, and while the former Taoiseach is the front runner it is fair to say that some Seanad members view his victory with dread. He has a reputation for letting meetings ramble on and on and on .. .