You'd think with his €200,000 salary, Taoiseach Enda Kenny could afford to buy himself a watch.

Our esteemed leader was on hand on Wednesday to open Google’s new €5.5 million Foundry research centre, located at its Dublin HQ.

A crowd of about 250 people, who had been summoned for 1pm, waited for the Taoiseach in the snazzy lobby of the new facility. And they waited, and waited . . .

The launch attracted plenty of well-known faces, who chowed down on fish and chips in between looking at the clock.

Barry O’Leary, chief executive of IDA Ireland, appeared a trifle jet lagged having only just jetted in from yet another trip to California.

Danny McCoy, the boss of Ibec, was also there, as was Rose Hynes, the chairwoman of Bord Gáis and Shannon Airport.

Vincent Crowley, the chief executive of INM, was on hand to raise the flag for "old media".

Everybody was finally ushered into the auditorium at 2.30pm, when Kenny arrived to a "warm, Googly welcome" from John Herlihy, the search engine's Irish boss.

Herlihy took the stairs onto the stage but, perhaps sensing he had time to make up, Kenny leapt straight up onto it like a gazelle.

Google's Barrow Street HQ is at "the centre of the digital globe", said Kenny, no doubt pleasing his hosts. His colleague, the Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton, opened his speech by wondering whether Google, in all its wisdom, could tell him who would win the 3pm race at Haydock.

By this stage it was 2.50pm. If Bruton never made it out to put the bet on, he should blame his boss.