Taoisigh say the darnedest things

Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid a visit to St Clare's National School in Cavan town last week.

From an early marital-status inquiry to Donald Trump’s hospitality skills and the delicate art of biting one’s tongue, Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s return to a Cavan school offered a masterclass in the unexpected perils of political small talk.

“Never work with children or animals,” is the showbiz maxim generally attributed to American comedian W.C. Fields. The Taoiseach might have been tempted to add a caveat last Friday: Never underestimate a curious Cavan child with a question!

Barely had the Taoiseach crossed the threshold of St Clare’s National School in Cavan Town when a member of the Junior Infant Assembly, knees tucked up and face alight with curiosity, lobbed a question at the country’s leader.

Was he married?

Few forces in public life are more formidable than a child who has yet to learn the art of diplomatic evasion. Protocol be damned. Convention dispensed with.

The Taoiseach, more accustomed to the choreography of international summits and high-level ministerial briefings, suddenly faced a question no spin doctor could have anticipated.

He had been welcomed by principal Alma Leonard and vice-principal Marie Brady, alongside the familiar phalanx of political supporters: Junior Minister Niamh Smyth; Cavan TD Brendan Smith; Leas Cathaoirleach Niall Smith and other local councillors.

In the entrance hall, the school’s violin group, led by teacher Breege Geoghegan, provided a more harmonious introduction. The Taoiseach told the young musicians that learning an instrument and playing music was a “gift for life”.

From there, he visited the Junior Infant Assembly, where teachers Shane Briody, Breege Geoghegan, Trish McManus, Kate McIntyre and Aaron Cooke were on hand, before moving to First Class, where Katie Galligan and special needs assistant Fiona Corby welcomed him.

The tour continued through their vegetable and newly established Sensory Garden, where fifth- and sixth-class pupils were joined by teacher Barry Walsh. Back in the main hall, Walsh - a Mayo man sporting a Cavan shirt - joined colleagues Orlaith McGovern, Damien Kellegher and Eadaoin Mimnagh in overseeing a medley of songs performed by St Clare’s Peace Proms and the school’s Wizard of Oz musical choirs.

It was a reminder that the St Clare’s community is long established. Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new building complete, music, drama, environmental projects and a host of extracurricular activities will keep the school humming long after politicians have departed.

Then came tea with fifth- and sixth-class pupils in the staffroom, with the girls wanting to know everything from the Taoiseach’s favourite place to his hobbies outside work (walking in West Cork FYI) and his assessment of America’s 45th and 47th president, Donald Trump.

“Was he nice to you?” one pupil asked pointedly.

The Taoiseach diplomatically confirmed that Trump had indeed been nice to him. He spoke of the president’s fondness for golf and described him as a gracious host, drawing on his hospitality background to make visiting dignitaries feel welcome.

The Taoiseach recalled too being led along the Presidential Walk of Fame in the White House’s West Colonnade, where portraits of former presidents are displayed.

He pointed out to the students, as he had to Trump at the time, that more than 20 past US presidents have identified Irish ancestry.

Before leaving, the Taoiseach planted an oak tree on the school’s front lawn- an apt reminder that mighty things grow from small acorns.

Back in the staffroom, the Taoiseach had warmly encouraged the children to “do what they love” in life. For him, he said, that meant making decisions, citing the former Taoiseach Seán Lemass, who led the country from 1959 to 1966 and is widely associated with the modernisation of the Irish economy, as inspiration.

He was equally careful to acknowledge that decisions in his line of work have real-world “consequences”.

On Friday last the children were free to ask the Taoiseach anything. Local journalists, less so.

His accompanying press officer declined questions in Cavan, allowing only those about a school the Taoiseach had visited less than two years earlier.

Importantly though perhaps, at St Clare’s, it’s the children who had the last word.