Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Minister of State for Education Síle de Valera kissed and made up in a very public fashion at the weekend, writes Michael O'Regan in Ennis
Mind you, according to both, there was no row. Ms de Valera, in a terse public statement, blamed the media for the controversy, while Mr Ahern shrugged his shoulders to journalists and wondered what all the fuss was about. The reconciliation took place in Ms de Valera's home political patch of Clare at the Ógra Fianna Fáil conference. The political ghosts of the Devs were everywhere. Photographs of her grandfather, who represented the county in the Dáil, dominated the Ógra clár.
On Friday night and Saturday, a media pack followed Ms de Valera's every move. She was refusing to comment on her future as a junior minister, following the Taoiseach's remarks on Clare FM that Ministers who decided not to seek re-election to the Dáil generally stood down before the lifetime of the Government ended.
Speculation centred on the body language between the Taoiseach and Ms de Valera when he arrived at the conference on Saturday afternoon. Ms de Valera soon put an end to that. At 4.15pm on Saturday, as Mr Ahern was midway through an informal press conference with journalists, Ms de Valera emerged at the corner of the large crowd in the foyer of the West County Hotel in Ennis. When Mr Ahern was finished with the journalists, she stepped forward to welcome him to Clare and spoke of how successful the conference was.
Mr Ahern planted a kiss on her cheek. "They were worrying about us," said Mr Ahern, referring to questions he had fielded on Ms de Valera's ministerial future. Ms de Valera laughed. Mr Ahern, who had earlier officially opened a constituency office for Senator Timmy Dooley, noted what a fine place it was. Ms de Valera agreed.
Earlier, Mr Ahern said Ms de Valera should continue to do her job as Minister of State. Asked about his comment that Ministers not seeking re-election stood down from ministerial office, he said: "I made the point . . . it is a long way out. I also made the point that when other people did that, it was very near the time . . . So that's it. She should get on with her job, and that is what everybody else should do."
The consensus among Fianna Fáil activists was that Ms de Valera will give up her ministerial post after the 1916 commemorations in Easter and she will be replaced by Seán Haughey. One long-serving party activist remarked: "You have to feel sympathy with Bertie. Imagine trying to replace a Dev with a Haughey."