I would be disposed to be prejudiced against CCE HQ - after all, could anyone trust a man who has not only his hair but even his eyebrows tinted lol! - but my guiding principle is always "audi alteram partem".

So congratulations are due to Breandán for his patient and open efforts to put the other side, and for not rising to the bait on the few occasions when some people have questioned his good faith, sometimes more aggressively than necessary in what has been a remarkably even-tempered thread.

CCE's communication on this has been disastrous, and will reinforce hostility to the organisation where it exists - and many neutral observers will see this episode as autocratic mismanagement.

When I became interested in traditional music, I joined Na Píobairí Uilleann which was seen as in some senses a "splinter group" (we used to tease Dan O'Dowd who remained a member of CCE Clontarf Branch for "consorting with the enemy"). The NPU view of CCE was heavily coloured by Breandán Breathnach's characterisation of it as an over-structured organisation which spent its time debating motions about the restoration of the uilleann pipes rather than doing anything practical about them. Whatever about its specific failings in relation to the pipes, that view was in general rather unfair to an organisation which has undeniably done so much to strengthen Irish traditional music, even if at the price of a competition culture which I find unappealing.

In spite of my reservations about CCE, I supported suggestions by some people here in Brussels that we should consider setting up a branch here as a way of securing some financial support for trad music here, especially for the children who live here as expatriates (we no longer have an Irish clubhouse at our disposal because of declining membership of the Irish Club). One of the advantages that I saw in this was that it might be easier to secure sponsorship if we were a branch of a well-known national organisation. But in the light of all that I've been reading about Clontarf, I wonder if we could realistically expect any interest from CCE in our small-scale operation, never mind financial support, in the present climate. And I don't know if many Irish-related firms would even want to be associated with CCE at the moment.

I have an awful feeling that, sooner or later, resolving the conflict will lead to more money being diverted from promoting Irish music into the pockets of our learned friends in the King's Inns than we spend on the music itself. Unless, of course, Bertie is asked to deploy his legendary skills as a mediator once he steps down from the office of Taoiseach!