ANDREW MONTAGUE, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, was a special guest on the city’s Phantom 105.2 radio station yesterday morning.

The Labour Party man visited the fledgling station to showcase his “finest worksongs” – songs, apparently, which he likes to listen to while he’s at work.

His favourite tracks included songs from the Manic Street Preachers, Nirvana and the Pixies.

Phantom’s head of music, John Caddell, sent out an intriguing press release about the event.

“I’ll be talking to the Lord Mayor about how a Fender Telecaster through a Marshall stack can benefit Ireland’s current economic situation.”

We understand that the troika, currently holed up in Merrion Street and trawling the national bottom line, was all ears. Here's what Andrew is torturing permanent staff in the Mansion House with at the moment: Someone's Looking at You– the Boomtown Rats; Sympathy for the Devil– the Rolling Stones; Where is my Mind?– the Pixies; Motorcycle Emptiness– Manic Street Preachers; Lithium– Nirvana; and Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes– Paul Simon.

Sadly, we didn’t hear the broadcast so can’t shed any light on the Fender Telecaster’s relevance to our economic crisis. Mind you, if Michael Noonan were to deliver his budget while accompanying himself on the electric guitar, it might help take some of the hurt away.