An assertion that Ireland had been effectively ruled by a junta of generals over the last 100 years, was one of the more amusing comments passed during a recent Sinn Féin meeting in Claremorris.

The tongue in cheek observation from former Knock Airport chair Liam Scollan raised a few laughs, The Dealer was informed.

Of course, Scollan wasn’t referring to generals in the military sense, but to the secretary generals of the various Government departments.

These “unelected officials” were essentially the permanent Government and the State’s real power brokers, he told the gathering.

Asked from the floor how these officials could be challenged, Vincent Roddy of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) suggested that a box-set of the classic British comedy series ‘Yes Minister’ should be made compulsory holiday viewing for Sinn Féin’s ministers in waiting.

Interestingly, there was no public reply from Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh when asked if the party would go into Government with the Greens after the next election, should a coalition partner be needed.