A pall of despondency descended on the country after Niamh Kavanagh qualified for the final of the Eurovision song contest last night.
At ports and airports people gathered with their meagre belongings and faint hopes of a new life in a far away place.
“What if we win? We’re already broke,” the father of a young family said as he sobbed in front of his children. “Everyone knows hosting the Eurovision is more expensive than Nama.”
“If the state had any compassion it would take us all into care or make us all watch Sex and the City 2,” he added. “Anything but this.”
“This is an appalling vista. The country must pull together in this difficult time,” a spokesman for Taoiseach Brian Cowen said.
