Protocol gone mad

The state funeral for Charles J Haughey has been explained on the grounds of protocol, which grants the right to such a ceremony to all ex-Taoisigh.

This presumably would an extract from the same protocol manual which sent then Taoiseach de Valera to the German embassy in 1945 to extend condolences, on behalf of the Irish people, on the death of Adolf Hitler.

For all his faults there is clearly no equivalence between Haughey and the nazi monster, but it does just illustrate that protocol can be a complete ass.