Article Category: Last Refuge

HOWLIN GOES FOR TÁNAISTE

January 16, 2020

BRENDAN HOWLIN’S weekend jibes at the “Tory Boys” of Fine Gael and his gung-ho election demand to “bring it on” reflect his desire... Read more »

LEITRIM IS A VERY FUNNY PLACE, SIR

December 12, 2019

THE ASYLUM-seekers row in Ballinamore is not over yet, as reported – not by a long shot. Junior Minister for Integration David Stanton... Read more »

QUINN SUPPORTERS TAKE OUT McCARTIN

December 12, 2019

LEO VARADKAR has been out-voted – or had his mind changed – by Fine Gael director of elections Paschal Donohoe and general secretary... Read more »

TREBLE JOBBER DARA MURPHY

December 12, 2019

IN HIS anxiety to defend multiple jobber Dara Murphy, Leo Varadkar made some rather risqué remarks in the Dáil about double-jobbing members of... Read more »

BEYOND THE RAINBOW

November 28, 2019

HAS ANYONE noticed the make up of the ruling coalitions on the four Dublin councils? In Dublin City it is Fianna Fáil, Greens,... Read more »

SOC DEM SPLITS

November 28, 2019

SOCIAL DEMOCRAT political director Anne-Marie McNally is not expected to mount much of a challenge in this week’s Dublin Mid-West by-election and a... Read more »

BORDER POLL: NO RISK?

November 28, 2019

GOVERNMENT MINISTERS and a multitude of academics, diplomats and other establishment figures have warned of catastrophic outcomes if a border poll on a... Read more »

COLLINS, DOOLEY: FF FALL-OUT

October 31, 2019

THE POLITICAL hit on frontbenchers Timmy Dooley and Niall Collins may be temporary as far as Fianna Fáil is concerned. However, Micheál Martin... Read more »

SINN FÉIN GONE TO THE DOGS

October 31, 2019

Sinn Féin’s business spokesperson, Imelda Munster, certainly reveals an aptitude for business, but the Louth TD has also found herself in the firing... Read more »

MARIAN HARKIN TO RESCUE FG?

October 31, 2019

FORMER MEP Marian Harkin will either save Fine Gael in Sligo-Leitrim or sink them, with feelers going out to her from a desperate... Read more »

BOYD BARRETT AND CO FACING WIPE-OUT

October 31, 2019

IF SINN FÉIN is worried about dropping six or more of its 23 Dáil seats at the general election, the Trotskyist Solidarity/People Before... Read more »

EAMON RYAN’S MEDIA CRUSADE

October 16, 2019

WHO KNEW what champions of free speech and the media the main Dáil parties are, as exemplified by their leaders’ bold call to... Read more »

BLUESHIRT SURGERY IN SLIGO AND CAVAN

October 16, 2019

THE SPECTRE of former MEP Marian Harkin haunts Fine Gael in Sligo-Leitrim, where the already nervous party members believe that her possible entry... Read more »

FG’S PRODIGAL SON, FLANAGAN

October 16, 2019

GOD LOVES a trier and former Dublin North-East Fine Gael poll topper in the 2011 general election, Terence Flanagan, might well believe that... Read more »

SINN FÉIN DAMAGE LIMITATION

October 16, 2019

SINN FÉIN’S local election plunge to 9.5% from 16% in 2014 (and 13.9% in the 2016 general election) is far more significant than... Read more »

FF FRONTBENCH MEDICATION

October 3, 2019

MICHEÁL MARTIN will not be pleased to see the row between Willie O’Dea and the more ‘responsible’ Fianna Fáil frontbench members spilling over... Read more »

FG WHITEWASH IN BY-ELECTIONS?

October 3, 2019

LEO VARADKAR delivered a decidedly downbeat prediction for Fine Gael in the four upcoming by-elections – “only one of the seats is guaranteed”... Read more »

LABOUR’S ‘NEW GENERATION’

October 3, 2019

‘GENERATIONAL CHANGE’ is how the party has pitched the withdrawal of Labour’s Wicklow general election candidate, Jack O’Connor, with Cllr Paul O’Brien replacing... Read more »

THE FIRST ITEM

October 3, 2019

INTERNECINE FEUDING within the far Left can be incomprehensible, but two things are clear about TD Paul Murphy’s apostasy and departure from the... Read more »

COVETOUS COVENEY LURKS STILL

September 5, 2019

LAST WEEKEND Sunday Independent columnist Eoghan Harris tipped Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney to take out Leo Varadkar as leader if Fine Gael loses the... Read more »

LEFT-RIGHT FIANNA FÁIL SPLIT

September 5, 2019

EVERY YEAR since the 2016 general election, Willie O’Dea has led a charge to bolster Fianna Fáil’s working-class base, with the parliamentary party... Read more »

POST DEASY CIVIL WAR

September 5, 2019

FRESH FROM feeding off the political carcass of local TD John Deasy, Waterford Blueshirts are now divided into three new factions behind the... Read more »

ISRAELI IRISH OFFENSIVE

August 22, 2019

THE ONSLAUGHT against alleged anti-semitism in Britain is driven by efforts to undermine Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour leadership, while in Ireland the claim that... Read more »

BITCHIN’ BLUESHIRT BARRY

August 22, 2019

WITH ONE Young Fine Gael (YFG) leader, Killian Foley-Walsh, in a spot of bother about his attendance at a right-wing youth conference in... Read more »

LABOUR AND BIG TOBACCO

August 22, 2019

WHAT IS it about the Labour Party and Big Tobacco? Several leading Labour players down the years have been involved in lobbying and... Read more »

TIMMY DOOLEY’S DEMISE

August 8, 2019

TIMMY DOOLEY’S public dressing down by his boss, Micheál Martin, for his unpatriotic remarks on the Taoiseach as he confronted the old foe,... Read more »

JOAN BURTON’S LAST STAND

August 8, 2019

THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT was kind to former Labour leader, Joan Burton, in its recent front page splash about tens of thousands of pensioners... Read more »