All collapsing regimes throw up absurd moments that come to be a reference point for historians, seeking to convey to future generations the banality of the age being studied. I suggest we got our moment last week, when Jackie Healy-Rae, poster boy for gobsheen parochialism, complained, with a complete lack of irony, on RTÉ's News at One, that the IMF had arrived at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin and nobody had told him?

Scientists tell us that matter and anti-matter can never meet, as the resulting consequence would be catastrophic. So too should we ensure that Ajai Chopra of the IMF and Jackie Healy-Rae be kept apart. The idea of Jackie attempting to strike a deal with d'IMF, over a pint in the lobby of the Merrion Hotel, would be a horrifying humiliation that even we Irish should be spared.

I would suggest, in the national interest, that the TV link to Mr Chopra's bedroom be cut off for the duration of his stay, for fear that he catch sight of Jackie, and learn that he is a member of our parliament. If he finds out that the South Kerry fixer is holding the balance of power in this country, I fear he will ring the mothership and declare us irredeemably backward.

For those who think I'm being too hard on poor old Jackie, you are just not getting it. Gobsheenism is going to have to be irradiated once and for all in this country.

Declan Doyle

Lisdowney

Kilkenny