Article Category: Last Refuge

VARADKAR’S DISAPPOINTED FANS

July 27, 2017

Noel Rock FURTHER signs of mutinous discontent among the ranks of those who fought not wisely but too well in support of Leo... Read more »

BIPARTISAN DRINKS PARTIES

July 27, 2017

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy THE alacrity with which Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil voted through a bill allowing pubs to open on Good Fridays... Read more »

STEPHEN DONNELLY IRKS FF INSIDERS

July 27, 2017

Stephen Donnelly STEPHEN DONNELLY, who recently joined Fianna Fáil and was appointed the party’s Brexit spokesman, is experiencing a rather mixed welcome. A... Read more »

ALAN FARRELL BUCKS THE TREND

July 13, 2017

LEO VARADKAR’S promise of future promotion for the disappointed ones has not assuaged the ire of various unrewarded Fine Gael backbenchers. Immediate threats... Read more »

AK47 FACING SQUEEZE IN TIPP

July 13, 2017

LABOUR leader Brendan Howlin has earmarked Drogheda as the venue for the party’s next think-in to assist Senator Ged Nash’s bid to retain... Read more »

Brian Hayes Home?

July 13, 2017

IS the architect of Fine Gael’s 2016 general election debacle, MEP Brian Hayes, about to return to domestic politics? Reports that the party’s... Read more »

O’CALLAGHAN EMASCULATING MARTIN

July 13, 2017

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S Cardinal Richelieu, justice spokesperson Jim O’Callaghan, is coming under serious fire in Fianna Fáil as someone who is leading the party... Read more »

LEO VARADKAR’S DISAPPOINTED FANS

June 29, 2017

THE biggest blunderer among those involved in the 2010 heave against Enda Kenny was Kieran O’Donnell who, having been made finance spokesman by... Read more »

CORK’S FOREIGN MINISTERS

June 29, 2017

THE axing of Dara Murphy, junior foreign minister for European affairs, is seen as the price he paid for supporting fellow Corkonian Simon... Read more »

Vlad v. Martin

June 29, 2017

TÁNAISTE Frances Fitzgerald’s outrage at Micheál Martin’s criticism of Máire Whelan in the Dáil debate last week indicates the high regard the former... Read more »

ENDA KENNY’S NEXT MOVE

June 29, 2017

LEO VARADKAR’S parliamentary coup has resulted in competing demands from not just ambitious TDs but also senators and others looking for Dáil nominations... Read more »

WHAT IS MICHEÁL MARTIN’S STRATEGY?

June 15, 2017

WHAT strategy will Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin adopt in the face of new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s supposedly revitalised Fine Gael? Up until... Read more »

HOWLIN’S UK LABOUR COMRADES

June 15, 2017

HOW heartening to see Labour leader Brendan Howlin’s solidarity with his British counterpart Jeremy Corbyn’s election campaign as Brendan joined his comrades on... Read more »

OLYWN ENRIGHT BACK IN FOCUS

June 15, 2017

A FINE Gael starlet from the past, former Laois-Offaly TD Olwyn Enright, returned with a vengeance in the FG leadership contest and her... Read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »