Article Category: Last Refuge

IS SF’S MARY LOU IN TROUBLE?

May 7, 2026

IS SINN FÉIN president Mary Lou McDonald in trouble and is she about to lose her leadership? The avalanche of articles predicting political... Read more »

HEALY-RAE DYNASTY SPLIT IS PERMANENT

May 7, 2026

THE DRAMATIC walk-out from Government of minister Michael Healy-Rae and his brother, backbench TD Danny, in the face of last month’s national fuel... Read more »

MEDIA MAESTRO MINISTER O’DONOVAN

May 7, 2026

COMMUNICATIONS MINISTER Patrick O’Donovan became aware, belatedly, that demanding a Coimisiún na Meán review of RTÉ’s coverage of the recent protests was a... Read more »

GROUNDHOG DAY FOR YOUNG FF REBELS

April 23, 2026

ONE PRESUMES that those Fianna Fáil members who organised the latest abortive effort to unseat their leader, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, will do their... Read more »

WILLIE O’DEA V MICHEÁL MARTIN

April 23, 2026

WHAT WOULD have been a political thunderbolt occurred earlier this month but it went under the radar as the sudden nationwide protests obscured... Read more »

SHARON KEOGAN’S INDEPENDENT TEAM

April 23, 2026

ONE OF the most formidable personalities in the political world of the Dáil, Seanad and even local elections is Independent senator Sharon Keogan,... Read more »

BOYLAN’S COUP IS SNUB TO MARY LOU

April 9, 2026

MEDIA GRATIFICATION at what is seen as Sinn Féin’s likely losses in the two upcoming by-elections might be a bit previous if Mary... Read more »

O’DONOVAN SCORES ANOTHER OWN GOAL

April 9, 2026

IS SPORTS, arts and communications minister Patrick O’Donovan determined to rival his ministerial and Fine Gael colleague, Jennifer ‘Cruella’ MacNeill, as the fiercest... Read more »

IRELAND’S BILLIONS FOR FRENCH ARMS

April 9, 2026

WITH WELL-JUDGED timing, less than three months before Ireland takes over presidency of the EU on July 1, the French embassy is organising... Read more »

JAMES LAWLESS V JIM O’CALLAGAHAN

March 26, 2026

UNDERNEATH THE apparent calm of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party after leader Micheál Martin’s near-death (political) experience in the presidential fiasco, the unrequited... Read more »

CRUELLA MISSING FROM STORY

March 26, 2026

THERE WAS a strange aspect to last weekend’s Sunday Times coverage of the tragedy of children dying from scoliosis due to delays in... Read more »

QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY IRISH VOTE

March 26, 2026

Students at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) have voted overwhelmingly to restore Irish-language signage along with English-language signs throughout the university’s campus. Of the... Read more »

O’DONOVAN DEFERS (UN)FRIENDLY GAME

March 12, 2026

PHOENIX READERS and ministerial colleagues in both Government parties will be aware that Patrick O’Donovan, Fine Gael’s culture, communications and sport minister, does... Read more »

CRUELLA MACNEILL SCOOPS THE FG POT

March 12, 2026

BAD NEWS for Fine Gael but impressive results for aspirant party leader Jennifer Carroll ‘Cruella’ MacNeill are contained in the breakdown of figures... Read more »

WILL CRAUGHWELL MOVE ON TEHRAN?

March 12, 2026

WHILE WESTERN leaders, including Donald Trump, wring their hands about the absence of an alternative to the clerical regime in Iran, waiting in... Read more »

COUNCILS ‘NO’ TO TRIPLE LOCK POLICY

March 12, 2026

THERE IS more trouble for Micheál Martin’s plan to do away with the triple lock as Dublin City Council (DCC), by a substantial... Read more »

HELEN McENTEE RUBS RUSSIA WRONG WAY

February 26, 2026

WHETHER OR not Vladimir Putin is quaking in his boots after foreign affairs and defence minister Helen McEntee told a breathless RTÉ that... Read more »

COUNCILS DEFEND TRIPLE LOCK

February 26, 2026

WHILE THE Government declares itself determined to proceed with legislation to remove the triple lock – which currently ensures that any Irish military... Read more »

ISRAELI FOOTBALL: HOME AND AWAY

February 26, 2026

DESPITE TAOISEACH Micheál Martin’s strong words of encouragement to the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to go ahead and play their Uefa fixtures... Read more »

CONRADH VOTES FOR IRISH UNITY

February 26, 2026

THE INCREASING assertiveness of Irish-language activists, especially from the north, was very much in evidence at the recent Conradh na Gaeilge ard fheis... Read more »

MARTIN GOADS JIM O’CALLAGHAN

February 12, 2026

THE POLLS that followed the upheaval in Fianna Fáil over the botched Jim Gavin presidential campaign may indicate a lull in the party’s... Read more »

MARY LOU’S BY-ELECTION ISSUE

February 12, 2026

SINN FÉIN’S coup in landing Gillian Sherratt – the mother of nine-year old Harvey Morrison, who died after waiting years for a scoliosis... Read more »

SOC DEMS SNUB LABOUR

February 12, 2026

PERPETUAL PLEAS from politicians and pundits – with not the faintest appreciation of, or good will towards, social democratic policies – for the... Read more »

HAZEL CHU REFUSES TO GO AWAY

February 12, 2026

FORMER DUBLIN lord mayor and Green Party chair Hazel Chu may have allowed herself a moment of schadenfreude on her election as party... Read more »

BERTIE’S BOY V DONOHOE’S BOY

January 29, 2026

THE DUBLIN CENTRAL by-election may provide a double bill comprising the main event – involving Sinn Féin’s candidate (yet to be declared), Social... Read more »

MARTIN FACES DANGEROUS PERIOD

January 29, 2026

REASSURING NOISE from most media quarters about Micheál Martin’s survival as Fianna Fáil leader will, his minders hope, help to see him through... Read more »

McENTEE: IRELAND STILL NEUTRAL

January 29, 2026

A RITUAL that has become a standard part of every military initiative or belligerent statement by the Government and the Defence Forces is... Read more »

MARTIN V MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

January 15, 2026

IN CHINA last week Micheál Martin was drawn into commentary on international conflicts in Venezuala, Ukraine, Taiwan and Greenland; human rights in China;... Read more »

FINE GAEL ENFORCER O’DONOVAN

January 15, 2026

MINISTER for Kulture Patrick O’Donovan has emerged as the hard man of the coalition, on the Fine Gael side of the house at... Read more »

FINE GAEL LEADER’S WAITING ROOM

January 15, 2026

TÁNAISTE AND Fine Gael leader Simon Harris’s position is regarded by party members as relatively safe for now, even if he ‘could do... Read more »

PASCHAL’S PYGMIES MUST WAIT

December 11, 2025

WHO DOES Kevin Cunningham think he is? An article by the managing director of polling company Ireland Thinks had the audacity to suggest... Read more »

MOLNÁRFI’S HORSESHOE MOMENT

December 11, 2025

FORMER HEAD of Trinners students’ union László Molnárfi has been causing trouble in the Irish far left after his expulsion from the very... Read more »