One of the things you have to do as a researcher is construct timelines to try and place events in an easy to understand way for both yourself and whatever presenter you are working for. Everything seems digestible then.

That’s the theory. The thing is that this theory has crashed and burned spectacularly in the past few days as McNulty-gate exploded all over Enda’s hands.

We’ll get to Enda later but up until this morning I was sure John McNulty was an innocent bystander in the whole process. That was until I heard his interview with Pat Kenny this morning.

His line went: After the locals, i made it known I'd take a seat on a state board. I didnt have any preference. A bit like Joseph and his dream coat, any board will do it would seem.

I don’t know Mr McNulty but in many ways I feel I know him. I grew up in a small town and I saw some excellent local businessmen who provide excellent service to their local communities. They are good businessmen.

Would they make good State board members?

Well, there’s a question. I simply don’t know. I got the impression Mr McNulty wasn’t really bothered it was IMMA. It was a state board. It was the next step. No, I don’t think I’m being hard on him. I’m just giving you my impression of what I heard. There was no particular interest in IMMA. Any state board will do and Heather Humphries was the right gal at the right time.

Who was pulling Heather’s strings? If we knew that, there wouldn’t be a mess. Enda has played a blinder in putting out the fire with gasoline. I don’t want to be seen as an Enda hater (second column in three weeks where he plays a starring role) but his Kennedy-like leadership skills have vanished. He looks like a small time local politician who has come up through the system that says a seat on a state board is the first rung of a glittering career.

Name a board. Any board.