Rabbitte swears by new party policy and merits minor Asbo

Maybe Labour leader Pat Rabbitte hadn't looked closely enough at his party's new policy document on anti-social behaviour when he launched it yesterday.

He spoke in grave tones about the threat of such behaviour which, he said, was the most serious issue facing the community.

The party had listened closely to the views of hard-working families; their voices would be taken into account.

Then, in the middle of the carefully prepared press conference of Powerpoint presentations and polished soundbites, a piercing fire alarm rang out.

"F**k sake," muttered Rabbitte under his breath, in a tone of exasperation, picked up by an array of radio microphones. He may not have realised that research being published by his party that day had found "shouting and swearing" or "rowdy behaviour" to be an area of concern for households.

There was one consolation, at least; he could have engaged in an array of other types of anti-social behaviour which, according to the party's research, are judged to be of much greater concern.

Damaging trees and plants is one. Loitering, or "misusing public spaces", is another. But shouting or swearing didn't rank too highly on the list.

Most of the rest of the conference was devoted to taking the Minister for Justice to task for his repeated failure to address the issue. But that was one public order incident which the Labour leader couldn't lay any blame on Michael McDowell for.