This was from a couple of days ago, but I didn't get around to mentioning it. It seems that despite the Irish government's pledge to send this and that to America to help in the post-Katrina clean-up that those resources were never requested by the US authorities.
A few weeks ago O'Shea annoyed his American directors when he denounced the government's decision to send money and other resources to help with the post-Katrina recovery. O'Shea was angry because he had been seeking some of these other resources for years to help in Africa, but the government here was disinclined. Was O'Shea right after all? Well, maybe, but I suspect the Irish government was fully aware that it's offer would not be taken up. Being seen to be helpful was all that mattered.
In fairness to O'Shea he was never as upset about the money as he was the offer of troops and supplies. O'Shea has never given me the feeling that he's a knee-jerk anti-American. This tirade sounded bad, but really it's more negative towards the Irish government (& the Irish Army too) than it is towards the US.
