It appears the Irish don’t much care for Tony Blair.

His appearance in at Eason’s bookstore in O’Connell Street, Dublin, for a book signing was met with jeering anti-war protesters.

Eggs and shoes (a huge insult in the Arab world) were thrown at him, but none hit him (which makes him a damned sight luckier than many of the poor, utterly innocent Iraqis he managed to kill with his enthusiasm for believing every word his friend George W Bush told him, not to mention the British troops who, but for him, would be alive today).

Around 300 flag carrying and banners waving protesters clashed with gardai, pushed down barriers and chanted “arrest the butcher Blair” or “hey hey Tony hey, how many kids have you killed today?” and “Tony Blair war criminal”. All of which seems fair enough to me. I mean, if you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.

The only thing I was dubious about was that the protesters abused people who bought his book. OK. I wouldn’t read it, never mind buy it, and the thought of meeting him and having him sign something that I own is repugnant to the point of nausea, but Ireland’s a free country, and if people want to meet him, fair enough. They didn’t send planes to wreak mayhem on the streets of Baghdad. They didn’t kill and maim kids.

One woman tried to make a citizen’s arrest on Blair, but for some reason the garda didn’t seem to want her help in arresting this particular crim. She told of being grabbed by 5 security men and dragged away. I image that these will be security people paid for by the British state. The woman, Kate O’Sullivan shouted: "There are half a million people dead in Iraq. How can you live with yourself? You've committed war crimes."

Needless to say Blair appeared unaffected by this.

Four men were arrested during the protest and charged under the Public Order Act although not, it would seem Ms O’Sullivan.

People like Blair live in a bubble, far away from us little people, transported in first class cabins, chauffeur driven Mercedes limos, presidential or royal suites at hotels. Today Dublin, tomorrow Cairo. They are entertained in presidential palaces or prime ministerial residences. Their routes are planned for them; they wait for nothing. The “ordinary”people they meet are handpicked to say exactly what they are told to say, and in his everyday life he will be surrounded by toadying lickspittles. Blair will have little, if any, grasp on reality.

I’m delighted that the Dubliners shone a little light on that particular reality for him.

He may find, if he has an extended tour of signings, that that reception will be repeated wherever he goes.

Actually, given that we went in Iraq to (excuse number 6) liberate them from the tyranny under which they lived; given that we went there to bring them democracy and freedom, can we expect Mr Blair to be signing his book in Waterstones in Baghdad? Or not?

WHEN WILL THE CHURCH MOVE TO STOP THIS

I have just been reading about the report commissioned by the Irish Government into the scandal of the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin. The report blames four Archbishops and a host of lower clergy for covering up clerical abuse, both physical and sexual, of children over the years between 1975 and 2004.

Perhaps worst of all, it blames the Garda Siochana, the Irish police, for covering the crimes that were reported to them, and leaving the Church to deal with the offenders in their own way. Amazingly, the Church’s remedy was simply to move the offending priest elsewhere to start all over again. It seems that the Garda felt that priests were above the law because they were The Church, and so they carried on their evil protected by the law. Crimes reported to them by children and parents were simply referred to the Church authorities.... and from there ignored.

The report concluded that the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets was more important than justice for its victims.

The Irish Justice Minister, Dermot Ahern, has promised that there will be no hiding place for the perpetrators of the crimes. Justice, he said, has been delayed, but will not be denied. Hopefully the Church will be giving every co-operation to trace the priests who were guilty and who are still alive. But I wait to see if this will actually happen. They had, it seems, tried to take out insurance against the claims which might arise from this abuse. It might have been better for them just to stop the abuse, rather than insure against its financial cost.

It seems to me that it unhealthy for the Church or its clergy in any country to be above the law, as it was, and they were, in Ireland. The untold damage that has been done to children may yet manifest itself in further disturbed behaviour.

When will the authorities at the very top of the Church, I mean the ones in the Vatican, act to stamp out this vile behaviour?