Article Category: Last Refuge

Kate O’Connell’S Choir Girls

April 5, 2018
KATE O’CONNELL, Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney’s altar girl in the Fine Gael leadership contest, famously described Leo Varadkar’s supporters as “choir boys singing for their... Read more »

Brendan Howlin’s bland buddies

March 22, 2018
LIMPING Labour leader Brendan Howlin appeared this week at a public meeting organised by his party on the topic of Brexit. He was joined... Read more »

CATHERINE NOONE’S DÁIL AMBITION

March 22, 2018
FINE GAEL Senator Catherine Noone is preparing to parachute into Dublin South-West (DSW) as a candidate at the next general election and her prospects... Read more »

Fine Gael MEPs DEMAND HUGE DEFENCE SPEND

March 22, 2018
THE four Fine Gael MEPs demanding an end to Irish neutrality and massive defence spending have repeatedly protested – like the lady that doth... Read more »

MATT CARTHY: SF’S NEW CROWN PRINCE

March 22, 2018
THE retirement at the next election of long serving Sinn Féin TD, Caoímhghin Ó Caoláin – as weighty and formidable as Mary Lou McDonald... Read more »

Catherine Noone’s complaint

March 8, 2018
SENATOR Catherine Noone’s complaint about a Fine Gael colleague and senator’s dismissive, misogynist and patronising treatment of her appears to have died a death... Read more »

‘PAYBACK TIME’

March 8, 2018
IN an amusing article in the Sunday Independent last weekend Liam Collins accused Rupert Murdoch’s Irish titles of regularly “taking a side” in politics.... Read more »

CORK PROBLEMS FOR BLUESHIRTS

March 8, 2018
THE shrieks of betrayal from former Cork North-West Deputy Áine Collins at the recruitment of Independent Cllr John Paul O’Shea indicates Fine Gael’s desperation... Read more »

KATE HOEY’S TRACK RECORD

March 6, 2018
NOT even the DUP has explicitly called for the abandonment of the Good Friday Agreement but British Labour Party MP Kate Hoey, originally from... Read more »

MARY LOU’S COALITION DILEMMA

March 6, 2018
THE only people more horrified by the prospects of a Fine Gael/Sinn Féin coalition than the Sunday Independent are many members of SF. Leo... Read more »

RINGER THREATENS TO GO INDEPENDENT

February 22, 2018
ONLY when Enda Kenny became Fine Gael leader and then Taoiseach did he manage to best his Mayo running mate, Michael Ring, at general... Read more »

SINN FEIN DISSIDENT IS IN DEMAND

February 22, 2018
SINN FÉIN’S latest political casualty, Cllr Noeleen Reilly, will be a loss to the party and will doubtless take a chunk of first preference... Read more »

AK47 Ultimatum

February 22, 2018
IT IS just under five months since Deputy Alan Kelly gave Labour leader Brendan Howlin “less than” six months to either shape up or... Read more »

FINE GAEL’S CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

February 8, 2018
THE portrayal of ethical and personal agonising by Fine Gael ministers and TDs over the abortion referendum and the planned 12 weeks abortion on... Read more »

SF’s right to choose

February 8, 2018
LOUISE O’REILLY’S compliment to Leo Varadkar’s statement on the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment was apt but surprisingly amicable coming from a Sinn... Read more »

OPINION POLLS – THE REAL STORY?

February 8, 2018
NATIONAL opinion polls show Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael streaking ahead of Micheál Martin’s Fianna Fail but there is something strangely unreal about the... Read more »

IREXIT PARTY BORN

February 8, 2018
IT LOOKS as if an anti-EU party with candidates running in the EU elections next year will definitely emerge from last weekend’s Irexit meeting... Read more »

McDowell v Ross

February 8, 2018
LEGAL EAGLES can be as bitchy as politicians when they fall out and former justice minister Alan Shatter – a mere solicitor – was... Read more »

MATTIE McGRATH’S LEGION OF THE REARGUARD

January 25, 2018
FRESH from his mischief making at the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment, Mattie McGrath is now creating discord in Fianna Fáil following Micheál... Read more »

LEO THE PROVO

January 25, 2018
SURPRISINGLY little comment followed the sharply contrasting responses in the Dáil from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to blundering Sinn... Read more »

SAVING PASCHAL DONOHOE

January 25, 2018
THE recent nomination of Mary Fitzpatrick as sole Fianna Fáil candidate in Dublin Central at the next general election marked the final rout of... Read more »

Israeli Embassy

January 25, 2018
THE withdrawal of the Israeli Embassy from Dublin indicates just how ineffective the government’s softly-softly diplomacy on recognition of the Palestinian state has been.... Read more »

Taking on Michael Twee

January 11, 2018
THERE will be a presidential contest, regardless of current incumbent Michael D Higgins’ agenda, and Fianna Fáil will face unbearable pressure from its members... Read more »

NIMBY: NOT IN MURPHY’S BACK YARD

January 11, 2018
FRESH from the PR blunder of Conor Skehan’s reappointment as chair of the Housing Agency, the minister for housing, Eoghan ‘Tory Boy’ Murphy, has... Read more »

MICHAEL NOONAN’S LEGACY

January 11, 2018
DESPITE Fine Gael’s national poll lead, Fianna Fáil apparatchiks claim that polls on the ground in various constituencies show seat gains for the party... Read more »

MARTIN TO PULL PLUG?

January 11, 2018
THE chances of an early election have been dismissed by all and sundry in the media/political bubble, but the debate inside Fianna Fáil still... Read more »

GLOVES OFF IN THE DAIL BAR

December 14, 2017
WHO needs a Strategic Communications Unit (SCU) when the Fine Gael press office is so adept at the dark art of media spin against... Read more »

PROVOS V FRANCES

December 14, 2017
FRANCES FITZGERALD was forced to resign by Fine Gael TDs withdrawing their support rather than the pious claims of acting in the national interest... Read more »

Billy Timmins’s return

December 14, 2017
BILLY TIMMINS re-entry to Fine Gael has upset calculations in Wicklow and may prove to be particularly upsetting to local junior minister, Andrew Doyle.... Read more »

PESCO PARANOID NEUTRALITY PESTS

December 14, 2017
THE government’s decision to join Pesco, the EU’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (a military alliance but not an army at all, at all), has been... Read more »

COVETOUS CORK BLUESHIRTS

November 30, 2017
THAT most earnest of journalists, Newstalk’s Chris Donoghue, has joined equally earnest foreign minister Simon Coveney as special adviser and his responsibilities will be... Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN GETS OUT OF JAIL

November 30, 2017
THE discovery of documents buried within the justice department and which destroyed Frances Fitzgerald saw Micheál Martin leap from bungling Fianna Fáil leader to... Read more »

Alan Kelly’s leadership race

November 30, 2017
THE Frances Fitzgerald/Maurice McCabe crisis threatened the leadership of both Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin in the event of poor results for either in... Read more »

Fine Gael’s military ambitions

November 30, 2017
TUCKED away on page 7 of The Irish Times recently readers of the paper of record were informed in a short article of the... Read more »