Irish notes

In County Wexford on the South East coast of Ireland for the wedding of Number Ten strategist and Beatles fanatic, Steve Morris, to his beautiful bride, Tara Hopkins – complete with video congratulations beamed to the reception from Tony Blair, perhaps the last such message he will send while Prime Minister. I was also impressed that Steve, one of the best and brightest Downing Street officials, had even persuaded the parish priest to include a prayer for our “political and civil leaders” in the service. That’s joined-up government for you. Meanwhile, the streets of Gorey are ablaze with posters for Thursday’s elections, and campaign vans are everywhere, blaring out U2, Thin Lizzy and Irish folk music, interspersed with cheery and refreshingly old-fashioned political slogans (“A model candidate for a model county!”). Bertie Ahern faces the fight of his life this time, with a poll in today’s Irish Independent suggesting that the majority of voters do not believe his claims that his personal finances in the 1990s were all above board and – to coin a phrase – “purer than pure.”