Taoiseach Brian Cowen appeared to adopt imitation as the sincerest form of flattery during his visit to the White House yesterday.
Mr Cowen, who was meeting President Barack Obama on St Patrick's day, was only a few paragraphs into a speech when he realised he was repeating the speech that Mr Obama had just given.
As the Taoiseach was to speak twice at the White House last night - there were two different parties going on there - he was to give the same speech to the two different audiences.
But 20 seconds into his second address, when it dawned he was giving the speech the US president had just read from the same teleprompter, Mr Cowen stopped and looked back at the president to say: “That’s your speech.”
Mr Obama laughed and, completing the role reversal, returned to the podium to offer what might have been Mr Cowen’s remarks.
During his talks at the White House, the Taoiseach discussed a number of issues with Mr Obama, including the global recession, the banking crisis and the latest terrorist atrocities in Northern Ireland.
Mr Obama told the Taoiseach that events in the US to mark St Patrick’s Day were an affirmation of one of the strongest bonds between peoples that exist in the world.
“The bond between our countries could not be stronger. As somebody who comes from Chicago, I know a little bit about Ireland and the warmth, the good humour, and the fierce passion and intelligence of the Irish people is something that has informed our own culture, as well."
Mr Cowen returns to Ireland today following his five-day visit to the US.
Additional reporting PA