A Dublin man was arrested in his Mount Street office today and charged with ‘lack of interest in the inauguration of a black president’.

Dermot Mannion, who works for an advertising agency, was at his desk when Gardai arrived on the scene, placed him in handcuffs and carted him down to the Pearse St station in the back of a Black Maria. Fellow workers in his office had become suspicious at his complete indifference to the unfolding rapture in Washington DC and dialled 999.

Speaking exclusively to the Irish Sentinel Mannion said “We have an important presentation to make to a potentially lucrative client so I was preparing the artwork as the deadline is quite tight. However, all my colleagues were sitting at their Apple Macs or in front of the TV in the coffee room watching Barack Obama get sworn in as president.

Obama was joined on stage by hit group Destiny's Child

To each their own, I thought, but they started going on at me about how they were witnessing history and how it was time for change. When I pointed out that a president is sworn in every four years so it wasn’t really that historic they said I was missing the point. ‘This president is a black president’, they said, at which I had to correct them and say he is actually a mulatto president but either way I didn’t care. I had a lot of work to do and frankly the inauguration of a president in a foreign country was of little interest to me.

I asked them how many of them would sit around and watch Mugabe being sworn in, or the president of Uzbekistan, but they simply said I didn’t get it. Then they started singing “Can I kick it? Yes we can!”, so I just thought I’d keep my head down and leave them alone. When the Gardai arrived and told me what I was being arrested for I couldn’t believe it. I suspect they just made up that charge on the spot”.

But according to the Minister for Justice failing to pay correct attention to an overblown, overhyped ceremony which has nothing whatsoever to do with Ireland, its politics or Irish people apart from the illegals in the US who think they’re better than Mexicans and should be allowed stay despite breaking the law, is an offence punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

A file is being prepared for the DPP while Mr Mannion’s final word was “I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. He’s a politician. He might be the nicest one out there but that’s like being the least worst rapist”.