JIM O’CALLAGHAN’S PROGNOSIS
Last Refuge
Article Category: Last Refuge
MAKE INCHICORE GREAT AGAIN
January 14, 2021
HARD LEFT TD, Bríd Smith, would greatly resent being compared to the stormtroopers of Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) that attacked the... Read more »
HEALTH MINISTER’S FUTURE
January 14, 2021
A SIGN of the political times – or near future – in Wicklow is the not entirely innocent Facebook comment posted by Cllr Rory... Read more »
CAN’T SEE THE GOOD FOR THE TREES
December 16, 2020
WHAT AN unusually flattering article the Irish Times published last weekend about the involvement of junior agriculture minister Senator Pippa Hackett in the planting... Read more »
BRIAN STANLEY’S FOES
December 16, 2020
INTERESTING to see that Fianna Fáil members on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) did not row in with abandon behind Fine Gael’s onslaught against... Read more »
EXTRA DUBLIN DÁIL SEAT
December 16, 2020
ALL BETS are off in Dublin Fingal, where the five-seat constituency is likely to be divided into two three-seaters by the time of the... Read more »
JENNIFER WHITMORE’S GREEN CONCERNS
December 16, 2020
IF SINN Féin stands accused of deliberately embarrassing the government parties with confidence motions and other tactics, Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore, party spokesperson... Read more »
POLLS: REBELS PAUSE
December 3, 2020
A GLIMMER of hope for Fianna Fáil and its leader, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, came with weekend polls showing the party up one point... Read more »
SINN FÉIN MEMBERS SUSPENDED
December 3, 2020
SINN FÉIN has just got tough with recalcitrant members in Leitrim, suspending two of them for breaching party policy on the direct provision issue.... Read more »
O’ROURKE FIGHTS FOR GOOD NAME
December 3, 2020
BATTLING EX-TD Frank O’Rourke is taking on Facebook and Twitter in the High Court and, if the Kildare North Fianna Fáil politician’s record is... Read more »
FIONNÁN SHEEHAN LETS FLY
December 3, 2020
IRELAND EDITOR at Independent News & Media Fionnán Sheahan’s past affiliation to Fine Gael (Young FG chairman at UCC) has been cited by some... Read more »
MICHEÁL MARTIN’S CORK REBELS
November 19, 2020
RTÉ AND its Drivetime host, Sarah McInerney, managed last week to transform a most interesting story about Fianna Fáil abandoning its republican traditions –... Read more »
IVANA TRIES AGAIN
November 19, 2020
LABOUR SENATOR Ivana Bacik has let it be known to her fans in Dublin Bay South (DBS) that she will – for the fourth... Read more »
ANNUAL 2020: A PLAGUE ON ALL YOUR LEADERS
November 19, 2020
THIS YEAR at times resembled a science fiction B movie as civilisation virtually succumbed to the plague in most countries with politics, economics, sport... Read more »
ANNUAL 2020: SINN FÉIN ON THE BRINK
November 19, 2020
IF 2019 was an annus horribilis for Sinn Féin, 2020 has been the year of resurrection, of Aiséirí. From the depths of a major... Read more »
ANNUAL 2020: FRINGE PARTIES TRAPPED
November 19, 2020
As they considered who to vote for to lead our government in February, the electorate faced the choice of TweedleFF or TweedleFG. Perennial predictions... Read more »
ALAN KELLY REINVENTS HIMSELF
November 5, 2020
LABOUR LEADER Alan Kelly and his handlers have been busy with a relentless campaign to replace AK-47’s image with a brand new persona since... Read more »
GOVERNMENT SEANAD PACT
November 5, 2020
SINN FÉIN senator Elisha McCallion’s resignation from the Seanad has done both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil a big favour, producing a political scenario... Read more »
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 came... 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 result... 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, who... 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 join... 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 of... 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 the... 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 media... 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. And... 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 and... 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 chaotic... 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 for... 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 Féin... 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 exit... Read more »
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 Hugh... 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 Central,... 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 country... 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 around... Read more »