James Bond, immaculate in a tuxedo and bow tie, makes his escape from an assassination attempt by abseiling down the walls of the world-renowned Cashel Casino, formerly the Rock of Cashel, the traditional seat of the kings of Munster before they moved to Thomond Park.
Or George Clooney and Brad Pitt plot an elaborately complicated heist, aided and abetted by Julia Roberts and Matt Damon… in Two-Mile-Borris.
And hungover stag partyers try to recall how they got the tiger into Martin Mansergh’s bathroom.
Farfetched perhaps, but some decisions have unforeseen consequences, but as justice minister Dermot Ahern reads through a proposal called Options for Regulating Gambling, which calls for the reform of Irish gambling laws, he must be mindful of a quid pro quo in return for Michael Lowry’s support in recent budget votes.
So anything is possible.
Lowry, who had been dividing his time between the Dáil and the Four Courts recently, had lobbied the government to allow a “super-casino” to be built in Tippereary.
The former Fine Gael TD, now an independent, is suing journalist Sam Smyth for defamation. Judgement in the case has been reserved in the case until early next year.
But Ahern dismissed as “facile” the suggestion that the report was payback for Lowry’s support, and said it was unlikely that a bill would be added to a crowded legislative agenda by a government fast running out of time.
“The law should provide for at least the possibility of large-scale casinos being permitted,” the report said.
But James Bond and George Clooney fans may be in for a disappointment. The report added that the “jurisdiction is not so large that it could reasonably sustain a Las Vegas style development.”
The full report, in PDF format, can be downloaded from the department of justice website.