Enda Kenny Makes Cover Of Time Magazine

Enda Kenny has become the first Taoiseach to grace the cover of the Time magazine in almost four decades. Mr Kenny is photographed on the front page of the Europe edition of the influential magaine, alongside the headline "The Celtic Comeback".

The article, written by Europe editor Catherine Mayer, who discusses the Irish economy and what the rest of Europe can learn from how Mr Kenny is rebuilding the it.

"Enda Kenny is somebody who has a gulf between the way he's perceived in his home country and the way he is perceived abroad," she said.

"Also because Ireland, as the second country to ask for a bailout, is quite far along in the process of dealing with the ramifications of what went wrong. I was looking for a way to look at some of the wider European issues, and Ireland's story seemed to me a good starting place."

Mayer has been covering Ireland for Time magazine since the 1980s when she spent a lot of time in Northern Ireland reporting on the Troubles.

She said she was impressed by the Taoiseach.

"He's extremely likable," she said, "that did not surprise me at all because that is very much part of his image. What I was really trying to see was what was behind that likability.

"In small groups he is much more fluent and compelling than he would appear to be were you to judge him from his big media set pieces.

"When cameras train on him he seems to freeze up, which is an interesting problem for somebody in that position. But when he's relaxed he's interesting and has a lot to say."

She said Mr Kenny had a "slightly childlike quality to him."

"But that is combined with a real sense of shrewdness, and that is the thing that doesn't come across when you see him at a distance."

The publication of the cover story is something of PR coup for the Irish government, at a time when it is struggling to maintain its popularity at home.

Another harsh budget is expected in December, and cuts to services is increasingly antagonizing the public.

"Politicians are often more popular abroad than they are in their own countries," said Mayer, "That's partly because familiarity breeds contempt. You could say it's because the Irish know him better.

"But it's also because the Irish focus on the smaller picture, and sometimes you really can see things better from a distance. It's exactly the same if you think about what goes on in Washington or Westminster."

Ms Mayer added that she believes Irish politicians, including Enda Kenny, as less insulated from reality than those in other countries.

"I suspect that in Ireland more politicians know people who are themselves directly in trouble than is the case in many of the more featherbed capitals of the world. So he's not himself directly suffering but I'm pretty sure he does know what's going on."