Sir, – I was just wondering if there is not something odd about the itineraries of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in the past week or so. While the Taoiseach was on a mission to South Korea, and briefly North Korea too, it appears (“Taoiseach visits demilitarised zone dividing the Korean Peninsula, stepping briefly into what is technically the territory of North Korea”, News, November 2nd), the Tánaiste was looking after the shop here. The situation is reversed this week, with the Tánaiste on a mission to China and the Taoiseach looking after things here, including in the Tánaiste’s Cork heartland.
Would it not have been more prudent, financially at least if not politically, for the Taoiseach to cover both Asian missions when he was there, while the more than capable Tánaiste managed the country? Just wondering if it is another form of role rotation! – Yours, etc,
PATRICK HOWLIN,
Dublin 14.