Fianna Fail has disconnected the remote control facility from its, telephone answering machine in the party's headquarters in Mount Street, Dublin, following an embarrassing incident at the weekend.
Callers were greeted with this taped message between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday: "Ah, howya head, this is Bertie here from the oul' Fianna Fail, Ireland's leadin' political party. I'm down at the pub at the moment with Celia having an oul' pint for meself, but if you want to leave a message after the beep I will get back to you as soon as I possibly bloody well can".
Fianna Fail sources have no idea how the greeting on the answering machine could have been changed. They are even more puzzled that the formal message could be changed for one hour and replaced thereafter.