Kenny and Flanagan echo views of Lynch, FitzGerald and Cosgrave

The days of the hand-holding of northern nationalists may finally be over

Jack Lynch and Enda Kenny

John-Paul McCarthy

In Ken Burns's extraordinary new PBS documentary about the Roosevelt dynasty, one of the contributors offered a striking take on the presidency of the United States. It was not a "bully pulpit", or even a sanitised form of monarchy, but really more like a leather glove. Each new hand that wore it stretched it in unique ways. We saw in the Dail last week that this metaphor also works for the Irish premiership.

In response to an impertinent lecture from Gerry Adams about the Taoiseach's recent trip to Northern Ireland, Enda Kenny explained that there was no financial deal because Adams blocked it. Charlie Flanagan kept the focus on Adams too.