IT TURNS OUT Enda Kenny is not being lavished with expensive gifts as Taoiseach – he didn’t even get one during all of last year.
His department keeps a record of gifts given to the Taoiseach above the threshold of €650 – as set out in the Ethics legislation.
However, Kenny did not receive any gifts over the amount for the whole of 2014, according to a document released under a Freedom of Information request.
This may be karma from that time in 2013 when he met Mayor Bloomberg in New York and gave him a teapot.
Yes, a teapot from our Taoiseach. Aw, Enda.
He does have some expensive presents hanging around from previous years though…
In February 2013 he received an acrylic painting by Michael Flatley. It’s valued at around €5,000 after his first work of art was sold for €5,600 in 2011.
The Riverdance star applied paint on his feet and literally danced the paint onto the canvas called ‘An Ocras Mór’ (The Famine).
The wood on the frame comes from trees of Castlehyde, Flatley’s expansive Cork estate.
The King of Saudi Arabia gave Kenny a golden replica of the world’s tallest clock tower during his trade mission to the country in January 2013.
He also received a 14-inch crystal vase from the Kennedy family in June 2013 (worth €800).
When the Queen visited our shores during her state visit in 2011 she handed over a bottle of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Scotch Whisky worth €150.
A spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that gifts of such nature could be taken into the private collection of the Taoiseach but because of the importance of the Queen’s visit, the gift will remain in the State’s possession.
He can keep it if he so wishes but that wouldn’t happen in this case.
US president Barack Obama also came bearing gifts during his State visit in the same year.
Obama presented Kenny with a limited edition silkscreen print, entitled Marigold, by US artist Alex Katz valued at €1,500.
(Marigold, Alex Katz)
It can be seen in the corridor outside the Sycamore Room in Government Buildings.
While the Taoiseach may not have received many (any) expensive gifts last year – let’s not forget that he looked pretty chuffed when Bono presented him with a vinyl edition of the new U2 album last November.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say