The Government was probably relieved that Frank Dunlop took the special Waterford think-tank off the front pages on Wednesday, since they had warned the media there was no point in travelling, as it was all private and there would be no briefings. And so it turned out. The Ballaghadereen and Cork cabinets attracted widespread attention - demos and cameras mostly - but this time our leaders decided no publicity was best. Departmental advisers were originally going and had even planned a dinner out together locally, but that was pulled by the Taoiseach's office at the last minute on the grounds that they might encourage a media circus.
The press went ahead anyway, and as they hung around Faithlegg House in the Tuesday sun, every move from the temporary cabinet office was monitored. Some ministers took a turn round the gardens before the lunchtime buffet and again during a break at 5 p.m. Leaks from the hothouse reported that several were so overcome with the urge to try the 18-hole golf course that they resorted to practising their swing with a spare club. The mobile phones were much in use following, naturally, proceedings at Dublin Castle.
Faithlegg has 82 rooms and the majority of them on Tuesday night were occupied, not by the Cabinet, but by a group of US friends of Maynooth College which included some senior American churchmen. The stately home has both clerical and political connections. Earlier last century it was a De La Salle seminary, but it was built in 1783 by MP Cornelius Bolton and acquired in 1830 by another MP, Nicholas Power.