It was a scrum in the Mansion House. Some well-known faces held their breaths as more and more squeezed into Fad≤ Restaurant. Pardon me, sorry, em, excuse me, can I get by. Many attendees walked in briskly to the beat of the Clondalkin Youth Band outside. The throng came to salute Bill Cullen on the publication of his book, It's a Long Way from Penny Apples.
The Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, was there, all in grey. One or two also spotted CJ. Was it? Yes, confirmed a member of the Mercier Press team. Charlie Haughey, the former taoiseach, had been and gone, looking frail, she said.
Also from the political sphere were Ruair∅ Quinn TD, Labour Party leader, and Fine Gael's Jimmy Deenihan TD, from north Kerry. Seamus Brennan TD and Tom Kitt TD came along too. It was head- spinning stuff.
The Kerry-based artist, Pauline Bewick, had the best vantage-point up on the dais, where she could keep the moving sea of heads under surveillance. Her work features in two current publications. Kelly Reads Bewick, which was launched in the National Library of Ireland last week, features work by poet Rita Kelly (it's published by Arlen House) while a children's book from John McGuire, People for Children, is published by Cork's Collins Press. Kerryman and poet Brendan Kennelly was there too.
The hum of talk quietened as the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, took the microphone.
"It's certainly the biggest book launch of this season," he said, praising the book for showing "how neighbourliness and a good community spirit" were the sustaining values in the heart of Dublin. "What I really like about it is that the author can draw attention to events that shaped our lives."
Then Cullen rose to the mic: "We were all very happy in the inner city. We had nothing, but no one else had so we didn't know we had nothing."
Does he have another book in the pipeline? Ah, now. "First he'll take a rest," said his partner, Jackie Lavin, with a smile, reminding us that Cullen, who is chairman and owner of Renault Distributors, sells cars for a living. "He's not an author," she says. But then, maybe he is.
Athlete Eamonn Coghlan was there, as were Brendan O'Carroll, Norma Smurfit and Maurice Pratt, not forgetting Pβid∅ ╙ SΘ, Richard Lewis, Pete St John and Jim Mitchell TD.
Brothers and sisters of Cullen were tearful and delighted. His brother, Noel Cullen, was too emotional to list all their names. Vera Clifford, a sister who is mother of 11, was there with her husband, Paddy Clifford.
Angela Keating, another sister, and two more brothers, Eamonn and Francis, were there too, along with Aidan, the baby of the family, and his wife, Miriam.
Gaetane Cullen, a niece who grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, was representing her late father, Brian Cullen, who died four years ago.
"I still have the old charm," said Vera as a friend planted a kiss on her mouth. Charm was all around. All author royalties raised from sale of the book go to the Irish Youth Foundation.