He mightn’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been voted as the politician of the year in the Vincent Browne political awards of 2011.
A perceived failure to make good on promises made in the General Election and a particularly harsh budget gave Kenny’s detractors further reasons to throw flak in his direction, but in a year where the Mayo man welcomed Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama to our shores, he was commended by the eccentric broadcaster and an independent panel of judges on a seasonal edition of Tonight with Vincent Browne last night.
The panel, made up of an independent selection of journalists and media industry figures, were particularly impressed with the “strong”, “passionate,” and “forceful” speech made by the Taoiseach in the Dáil in relation to the Cloyne report in July.
2011 was a year full of notable oratories for ‘Inda’ although his recent State of the Nation address proved to be a bit of a damp squib, while his address during the visit of Barack Obama seemed great at first, until it became clear that it leaned rather heavily on Obama’s own inauguration speech in 2008.
Recipients of other awards, or ‘Vinnies’ as they are yet to be called, were Carl O’Brien of the Irish Times as Journalist of the Year and the Sunday Business Post, for whom the bould Vincent writes a column.
We can only assume that our award is in the post.
