Article Category: Last Refuge

JOHN CONCANNON’S RETURN

March 26, 2020
LEO VARADKAR is certainly persistent. He has called John Concannon back from NUI Galway to lead the latest government information campaign on the Covid-19... Read more »

WHERE NOW FOR EAMON RYAN?

March 26, 2020
GREEN PARTY leader Eamon Ryan has always believed enthusiastically that being in politics means being in government. But this time, it seems, his enthusiasm... Read more »

CIRCLING MICHEÁL MARTIN

March 26, 2020
MICHEÁL MARTIN continues to come under pressure within Fianna Fáil because of his proposal that the party go into full coalition with Fine Gael.... Read more »

LUVVIES TO LOSE MINISTER?

March 26, 2020
THE ARTS sector must be fearing what’s in store for it in the government formation talks. It looks like the creative types are facing... Read more »

LABOUR CONTEST: AK47 VS PC 2020

March 12, 2020
LABOUR’S LEADERSHIP election – Guns vs Roses – is already over bar the counting; Alan Kelly is home and dry and the only question... Read more »

GREEN POWER PLAY

March 12, 2020
TWO PUTATIVE Green Party dynasties had their wings clipped during and after the general election and party leader Eamon Ryan showed that he learned... Read more »

COVENEY RETREATS

March 12, 2020
DESPITE SIMMERING anger at grassroots level following Fine Gael’s electoral panning, the parliamentary party is unlikely to see a leadership challenge from Simon Coveney... Read more »

MCDOWELL’S GHOST PRISON

February 27, 2020
Launching his Seanad re-election campaign, Michael McDowell SC showed an impressive, if belated, concern to increase the provision of public housing. In a plea... Read more »

MARTIN’S MASTERFUL SCREW-UP

February 27, 2020
PUTATIVE TALKS between Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin may now be the main political agenda, but Martin’s negotiating position, as well as his own... Read more »

FAR-LEFT COALITION SPLITS

February 27, 2020
COALITION SHADOW boxing between the three big parties is child’s play compared to the ongoing battle for ascendancy between the two Trotskyist factions in... Read more »

EOGHAN MURPHY’S FIGHT BACK

February 13, 2020
A panic-stricken Eoghan Murphy spent a fortune over the last two weeks of the election campaign stuffing the letter boxes of Dublin Bay South... Read more »

IBEC VS SINN FÉIN

February 13, 2020
IBEC HEADS were in shock when the Shinners came top of the Irish Times pre-election poll. After decades of lecturing workers on the need... Read more »

GREEN BLUESHIRT ALLIANCE

February 13, 2020
THE HIGHEST vote getter of those Green Party candidates that nearly won a seat was Vincent P Martin SC, who came fifth in four-seat... Read more »

COVENEY LURKS

February 13, 2020
TÁNAISTE and foreign minister Simon Coveney recently spoke in disarming, even endearing terms about how close he was to his leader, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.... Read more »

VARADKAR’S RUNNING MATES

January 30, 2020
IT’S HARD to recall any taoiseach that has failed to bring in a running mate in their own constituency at a general election and,... Read more »

GREY BLUESHIRT STAFF BROWNED OFF

January 30, 2020
THE Fine Gael boo-boo on pensions has angered not only grey voters – that most prolific cohort – but also grey grafters among the... Read more »

COVENEY’S CAPTAIN IN ELECTION ROW

January 30, 2020
WITH Fine Gael heading for electoral defeat, the locus of the party leadership is likely to move rapidly from Dublin to Cork with traditional,... Read more »

COVENEY’S RIGHT HAND MAN

January 16, 2020
FINE GAEL had been hoping to restore the natural order of things in Cork South-West by running Senator Tim Lombard with junior minister Jim... Read more »

MCDOWELL’S CHOICE

January 16, 2020
HAVING MARSHALLED his resources for a comeback in the general election in Dublin Bay South (DBS) former minister and PD leader, Senator Michael McDowell... Read more »

REBELS COVENEY AND O’CALLAGHAN

January 16, 2020
THE DUAL war of words over commemoration of the RIC and advance discussions on a united Ireland has not created a fundamental rift between... Read more »

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 to... 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 the... 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 has... 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 Tom... 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 certain... 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 united... 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, Labour... 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 will... Read more »