Brian Stanley's Media Car Crashes

Sinn Féin should probably hide him away somewhere.

Brian Stanley is the Sinn Féin TD for Laois and chairman of the all-powerful and entertaining public accounts committee. (PAC)

The PAC usually crackles with a bizarre energy, a mix of tension and comedy. On one side of the room, earnest Oirechtas members brandish spreadsheets like swords, ready to do battle over how the taxpayers money is wasted. On the other side nervous NGO’s, semi-state organisations and anyone in receipt of tax payers money shift uneasily at the impending interrogation. It would be fair say they have absolutely nothing to worry about when it comes to Brian Stanley.

During the surreal spectacle of the Tubridy/RTE, PAC hearings, Stanley turned to Ryan Tubridy's agent, Noel Kelly, and asked what exactly Cadbury's sold. The question hung in the air like a bad smell that everyone pretended not to notice. Leaving those watching whether they were witnessing a political inquisition or a surrealist play, an absurd dance of inquiry where chocolate and controversy intertwined…