Article Category: Last Refuge

WILL MICHAEL McDOWELL RETURN TO THE HUSTINGS?

June 15, 2017

WHILE THE Irish and Sunday Independent continue to depict Kate O’Connell as a political Boadicea set to scale the political heights, there are... Read more »

DR VARADKAR’S DILEMMA

June 2, 2017

LEO Varadkar has received favourable commentary for his work ethic in his chosen profession of medicine in early life – “a young man... Read more »

FRANCES FITZGERALD’S FINESSE

June 2, 2017

TÁNAISTE and justice minister, Frances Fitzgerald, has degenerated from being a potential Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach to a minister fighting for her... Read more »

Simon’s Tactics

June 2, 2017

SIMON COVENEY was congratulated for his plucky and gentlemanly fight back against Leo Varadkar’s Conor McGregor type assault in the first days of... Read more »

Leo’s Headache

June 2, 2017

LEO VARADKAR’S troika in the South-East of Kilkenny TD, John Paul Phelan, Wexford junior defence minister, Paul Kehoe and his constituency rival, Michael... Read more »

martin baulks at action on vulture funds

June 2, 2017

Micheál Martin appears to have developed a Hamlet complex. The conservatism and fear of a premature election that has seized the party over... Read more »

BRIAN MURPHY TO THE FORE AGAIN

May 17, 2017

SIMON COVENEY’S spin about Leo Varadkar’s street-fighting tactics in Fine Gael’s leadership contest is designed to paint the Cork gent as a statesmanlike... Read more »

NEW TAOISEACH’S CABINET OPTIONS

May 17, 2017

AMBITIOUS Fine Gael junior minsters have been making feverish calculations and permutations about promotion to cabinet as they weigh up their options in... Read more »

Varadkar’s Allies

May 17, 2017

CLAIMS of majority parliamentary party support by Varadkar and Coveney’s campaign teams can hardly be accurate (both men are ahead). But Vlad’s side... Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S NEW TIMELINE

May 17, 2017

FIANNA FÁIL’S contortions over garda commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan, reached absurd levels last week when justice spokesperson, Jim O’Callaghan said that if he were... Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S COALITION PLAN

May 3, 2017

THERE may be some Fianna Fáil front bench members and TDs who agree with Micheál Martin’s latest strident rejection of Sinn Féin as... Read more »

Ó RÍORDÁIN NEXT LABOUR LEADER?

May 3, 2017

SENATOR Aodhán Ó Ríordáin began canvassing to regain his Dáil seat within minutes of Labour’s rout at last year’s general election. He has... Read more »

FLANAGAN FLEES BACK TO FOLD

May 3, 2017

FORMER Fine Gael TD Terence Flanagan has slipped back into the party after his defection to Renua, Lucinda Creighton’s failed attempt to re-create... Read more »

CABINET DIVIDE ON PALESTINE

May 3, 2017

THE next cabinet row between the Independent Alliance and Fine Gael could see Shane Ross don a Palestinian scarf and do battle with... Read more »

WILL AG SURVIVE NEW FG LEADERSHIP?

April 19, 2017

AN INTERESTING sequence of stories following the recent Fennelly Report indicates that Alan Shatter is now being used to pressure Enda Kenny to... Read more »

Brendan Howlin’s Headache

April 19, 2017

RTÉ coverage of Labour leader Brendan Howlin’s conference speech this weekend will help sustain the illusion that the party is still a player... Read more »

Squeezing John McGuinness

April 19, 2017

IT’S hard to keep John McGuinness down, as Micheál Martin knows only too well. Motor Mouth McGuinness, as loyal frontbenchers call him, was... Read more »

BIFFO’S BROTHER V MICHEÁL MARTIN

April 19, 2017

IT’S BEEN a bad week or so for Fianna Fáil and inside the party the choice of scapegoats for the water charges gyrations... Read more »

LEO’S SOUNDBYTES V SIMON’S CHAT-UP

April 5, 2017

IN THE space of just nine days to last weekend, Leo Varadkar made eight pointed leadership statements or gestures highlighting the political differences... Read more »

REACTIONARY RENUA RENEWAL

April 5, 2017

RENUA leader and Offaly councillor John Leahy is hardly Lucinda Creighton but he has moved to the fore as the single saviour of... Read more »

FF Split on Gardaí

April 5, 2017

WHO speaks for the bulk of Fianna Fáil members on the question of whether Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan should be forced out of... Read more »

BERTIE’S BOY ABANDONED?

April 5, 2017

THE latest effort to reintroduce Bertie Ahern to Fianna Fáil crashed and burned at last week’s Comhairle Dáil Ceantair meeting in Dublin Central.... Read more »

COVENEY GOOD FOR (CORK) BUSINESS

March 23, 2017

THE MESSAGE being purveyed by Simon Coveney’s political and business supporters is that Simon is good for business and has the support of... Read more »

Vlad’s Numbers

March 23, 2017

LEO VARADKAR’S supporters have been spooked by that Irish Times poll showing that Simon Coveney was ahead in the Fine Gael leadership contest... Read more »

TERRY PRONE’S SISTERLY ADVICE

March 23, 2017

ENDA KENNY’S emotional hand wringing about the “truly appalling” uncovering of hundreds of babies at the Tuam mother-and-baby home – “he was personally... Read more »

MARY LOU’S TIME HAS COME

March 23, 2017

THAT Sunday Times poll showing Sinn Féin overtaking Fine Gael (23% to 22%) will hardly be realised in a general election, although the... Read more »

LORD ROSS TO CURB JUDGES?

March 9, 2017

THAT recent report about “leading judge” George Birmingham proposing a watering down of transport minister Shane Ross’s judicial appointments bill omitted one small... Read more »

SOC DEMS: STICKIES IN DISGUISE?

March 9, 2017

ARE Social Democrats TDs Catherine Murphy and Roísín Shortall along with Irish Times ideologue Fintan O’Toole trying to recreate the Workers Party? It... Read more »

O’Brien backs Simon

March 9, 2017

LEO VARADKAR’S campaign team is getting jittery and it is not just because of that Irish Times poll showing Fine Gael members swinging... Read more »

WILL AOIBHINN SUCCEED ENDA IN MAYO?

March 9, 2017

THERE is much fretting among Mayo Blueshirts about the future without An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and even more anxiety about the possibility that... Read more »

FINE GAEL LEADERSHIP CONTEST – SIMON COVENEY

February 23, 2017

SIMON COVENEY’S Fine Gael leadership pitch is heavily dependent on securing support from the Enda Kenny old guard. But while the latter regard... Read more »

FINE GAEL LEADERSHIP CONTEST – LEO VARADKAR

February 23, 2017

THE gay genie is out of the bottle in the Fine Gael leadership contest and two former Fine Gael operators-turned-hacks – ex-minister Ivan... Read more »

SIPTU BOSS CHALLENGES HOWLIN

February 9, 2017

IS LABOUR preparing for a new party chief already? Current leader Brendan Howlin’s “welcome” for Siptu boss Jack O’Connor’s bid for chair of... Read more »

Greedy-Raes

February 9, 2017

KERRY’S EYE turned its beady focus on TD brothers Mikey and Danny Healy-Rae recently with a wealth of detail about the mountain of... Read more »

WICKLOW’S SOCIAL DEMOCRAT

February 9, 2017

MEDIA punditry about Stephen Donnelly reneging on his Independent, social democrat principles was predicated on the notion that he had cunningly negotiated his... Read more »