Another Friday and another Leo Varadkar address to the nation.
The taoiseach's oratorical chops have been pushed to the limit these past three months as he's had to make a number of high-profile speeches to an exasperated nation. Leo make lack the speechifying range of a Danny Healy Rae, but he makes up for it with a vast knowledge of quotable films.
As we've all learned these past few months, Leo loves to slip a pop culture reference into his speeches. These past three months, we've seen Leo quote Heaney and Churchill as well as the lesser quoted Sarah Conner (of Terminator fame) and Dermot Kennedy. Leo had good news today about the easing of lockdown measures and he wasn't going to leave us without a bit of inspiration. So he reached into his magic hat of motivation and produced a quote from Samwise Gamgee from the final Lord of the Rings film:
But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.
The quote comes around 27mins here:
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar making a statement on the next phase of Covid-19 restrictions. | Follow live updates: https://t.co/KT4vRqZ5pl https://t.co/2e5QtMqjSQ
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 5, 2020
Sam delivers the lines towards the end of the Two Towers as Frodo suffers a spasm of doubt on the journey to Mordor.
Indeed, Sam. To quote the Taoiseach, 'summer is not lost'.
