Last Refuge Archives

RYAN’S VICTORY

November 5, 2020

THE SURPRISING thing about the recent exodus of some of the more forceful radicals in the Green Party is that leader Eamon Ryan... Read more »

BLUESHIRT ORDER

November 5, 2020

FINE GAEL’S Dún Laoghaire constituency chairman, Edward Kennedy, may have delivered the last of his portentous letters to members, depending on the imminent... Read more »

REGINA TO OUST FARRELL IN FINGAL

October 22, 2020

“I CAN’T wait to get stuck in and do my best to fight for Fingal alongside Alan (Farrell),” said former minister, Regina Doherty,... Read more »

GREEN STRIFE CONTINUES

October 22, 2020

GREEN PARTY chairperson and Dublin Lord Mayor, Hazel Chu’s casual remark, “You can never rule these things out,” when asked if she might... Read more »

GREEN HANDLERS FOR HIRE

October 22, 2020

THOSE IRRESPONSIBLE leftists in the Green Party who seem to think they can change (save, even?) the world, cavilled predictably at the appointment... Read more »

BLUESHIRT CALL TO ARMS

October 8, 2020

THAT’S A slightly unnerving group of right-wing Fine Gael TDs now ensconced in a political bunker hammering out a battle plan to revive... Read more »

SEPARATING JUDGES AND POLITICIANS

October 8, 2020

SÉAMUS WOULFE has achieved the compelling feat of lowering the stock of judges to beneath that of politicians. But amid the reams of... Read more »

MICK BARRY’S MEDIA STRATEGY

October 8, 2020

OPPOSITION TDS and even Fianna Fáil have denounced the obsession with spin and media manipulation engaged in by Leo Varadkar in recent years.... Read more »

FIVE-YEAR LIBEL CASE

October 8, 2020

A SLOW-motion defamation action in the Northern Circuit Court is causing some confusion within and without Fianna Fáil. This is because the plaintiff... Read more »

FF REBELS GROW IN NUMBERS

September 24, 2020

DESPITE THE overall poll numbers, there will be no heave against Fianna Fáil leader and Taoiseach Micheál Martin until a semblance of post-Covid... Read more »

ALAN KELLY VS DECLAN KELLY

September 24, 2020

WHAT A fascinating public relations appointment health minister Stephen Donnelly has made by hiring “the global CEO advisory firm” Teneo to remedy the... Read more »

PHIL HOGAN LIVES

September 24, 2020

THE BACKSTAGE machinations and paybacks behind the election of Senator Joe O’Reilly as leas cathaoirleach of the Seanad would provide a good script... Read more »

AK47 SNIPES AT SINN FÉIN

September 10, 2020

ALAN ‘AK47’ KELLY, heads up a party of six TDs and is on 5% circa in the polls, while Mary Lou McDonald’s Sinn... Read more »

MAC KNIFES MARTIN

September 10, 2020

THERE WAS method behind that maddening intervention by the former Fianna Fáil finance minister, Ray ‘Mac the Knife’ MacSharry, after Big Phil Hogan’s... Read more »

Janice Boylan Irish Military Mali Coolock Says No IFP Hermann Kelly Timmy Dooley Aontú Mal O’Hara Fintan O’Toole Josepha Madigan Eoghan Harris Ukraine War Micheál Martin Middle East Philip Ryan Seán Clancy Simon Coveney Hugo MacNeill Mountbatten Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

COVENEY V VARADKAR

September 10, 2020

WHAT A mature, statesman-like figure foreign minister Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney struck as he declined to respond to a query from Sunday Independent interviewer... Read more »

BERTIE’S NEMESIS

September 10, 2020

AS IF Fianna Fáil senator Mary Fitzpatrick has not enough to contend with in her perpetual quest for a Dáil seat in Dublin... Read more »

SCHOOL MARM FOLEY IN HOT SEAT

August 27, 2020

FROM LOWLY councillor to the cabinet in one fell swoop, education minister Norma Foley has the political weight of the Kingdom and the... Read more »

ALAN KELLY’S GHQ STAFF

August 27, 2020

NEW LABOUR party leader Alan ‘AK47’ Kelly heads up a party of six TDs. The party has enjoyed a consistent poll rating of... Read more »

TAOISEACH’S NEW PERSPECTIVE

August 27, 2020

AN INDIGNANT Micheál Martin gave the then taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, quite a ticking off in June last year when quizzing him on the... Read more »

VLADIMIR BRUTON’S VIRILITY

August 13, 2020

RICHARD BRUTON’S macho triathlon through his Dublin Bay North constituency grabbed the headlines, as intended, but not so much for its stated goal... Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S PARTY PLEDGE

August 13, 2020

HAS MICHEÁL MARTIN become utterly detached from rank-and-file members and even TDs of the party he leads or is he simply disinterested in... Read more »

TROUBLESOME GREENS

August 13, 2020

THAT DISSENTING abstention by Green junior minister Joe O’Brien signifies more than just a temporary wobble by the Dublin Fingal TD. It challenges... Read more »

FINE GAEL HEAD (WO)MAN

July 30, 2020

JOHN CARROLL, special advisor to Leo Varadkar when he was taoiseach, was regarded (for this reason, if nothing else) by many as front-runner... Read more »

JOHN MAGNER’S RESIGNATION

July 30, 2020

THE CHAIRMAN of the Fine Gael Agricultural Affairs Group (FGAAG), George O’Connor, was forced recently to convene a special meeting following complaints from... Read more »

LISA CHAMBERS LOOKS EAST

July 30, 2020

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S loss of half a dozen or so party allies after the general election is well documented. But the biggest hit against... Read more »

MARTIN’S REPUBLICANISM

July 30, 2020

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S inaugural Dáil speech on his election as taoiseach amounted to a not-so-veiled polemic against Sinn Féin as he railed against those... Read more »

REASONABLE RYAN VS SHREWISH MARTIN

July 16, 2020

THAT ‘FEMINIST’ statement by Green Party leadership contestant Catherine Martin about Eamon Ryan’s failure to promote more women to cabinet and to the... Read more »

ANGRY BLUESHIRT FARMERS

July 16, 2020

CORRECT POLITICALLY as well as health wise, the ruddy-faced ranchers of the Fine Gael Agricultural Affairs Group (FGAAG) held a virtual meeting via... Read more »

MARY LOU’S FIANNA FÁIL FRIENDS

July 16, 2020

MICHEÁL MARTIN will have clocked the pro-Sinn Féin remarks of two Dublin TDs – Dublin North-West (DNW) new boy Paul McAuliffe and another... Read more »

VARADKAR’S SENATE CHOICES

July 2, 2020

WHAT IS it about former taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s general election running mates in Dublin West that sees them a) bombing in elections and... Read more »

WHAT WILL O’CALLAGHAN DO?

July 2, 2020

THE EXCLUSION of Jim O’Callaghan from cabinet was hardly unexpected – at least not to Phoenix readers (see edition 22/5/20) – and, by... Read more »

MAYO MOTIONS

July 2, 2020

MAYO Fine Gael voted against the government formation deal and so did Kerry Blueshirts, but what has provoked widespread anger in the party... Read more »

BALANCING CLIFFORD-LEE

July 2, 2020

AN TAOISEACH Micheál Martin gave expression to his modern, inclusive new world last weekend with the appointment of Traveller activist Eileen Flynn to... Read more »

GURRIER GREENS VS GENTLE GREENS

June 18, 2020

THE MEDIA mantra about the Greens has changed from one condemning the party for not simply capitulating to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael... Read more »

MARTIN SWEATS IT OUT

June 18, 2020

THE NEUROTIC behaviour of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin as he closes in on the long-cherished, moist dream of becoming taoiseach – at... Read more »

UN SECURITY COUNCIL FODDER

June 18, 2020

FOREIGN MINISTER Simon Coveney’s repetitive explanation to the Irish public of the government’s refusal to enact the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) – passed... Read more »