AK47 SNIPES AT SINN FÉIN
Last Refuge
Article Category: Last Refuge
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 »
TAOISEACH’S NEW PERSPECTIVE
August 27, 2020
AN INDIGNANT Micheál Martin gave the then taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, quite a ticking off in June last year when quizzing him on the soaring... Read more »
VLADIMIR BRUTON’S VIRILITY
August 13, 2020
RICHARD BRUTON’S macho triathlon through his Dublin Bay North constituency grabbed the headlines, as intended, but not so much for its stated goal –... Read more »
MICHEÁL MARTIN’S PARTY PLEDGE
August 13, 2020
HAS MICHEÁL MARTIN become utterly detached from rank-and-file members and even TDs of the party he leads or is he simply disinterested in their... Read more »
TROUBLESOME GREENS
August 13, 2020
THAT DISSENTING abstention by Green junior minister Joe O’Brien signifies more than just a temporary wobble by the Dublin Fingal TD. It challenges the... Read more »
FINE GAEL HEAD (WO)MAN
July 30, 2020
JOHN CARROLL, special advisor to Leo Varadkar when he was taoiseach, was regarded (for this reason, if nothing else) by many as front-runner for... Read more »
JOHN MAGNER’S RESIGNATION
July 30, 2020
THE CHAIRMAN of the Fine Gael Agricultural Affairs Group (FGAAG), George O’Connor, was forced recently to convene a special meeting following complaints from some... Read more »
LISA CHAMBERS LOOKS EAST
July 30, 2020
MICHEÁL MARTIN’S loss of half a dozen or so party allies after the general election is well documented. But the biggest hit against Martin’s... Read more »
MARTIN’S REPUBLICANISM
July 30, 2020
MICHEÁL MARTIN’S inaugural Dáil speech on his election as taoiseach amounted to a not-so-veiled polemic against Sinn Féin as he railed against those who... Read more »
REASONABLE RYAN VS SHREWISH MARTIN
July 16, 2020
THAT ‘FEMINIST’ statement by Green Party leadership contestant Catherine Martin about Eamon Ryan’s failure to promote more women to cabinet and to the junior... Read more »
ANGRY BLUESHIRT FARMERS
July 16, 2020
CORRECT POLITICALLY as well as health wise, the ruddy-faced ranchers of the Fine Gael Agricultural Affairs Group (FGAAG) held a virtual meeting via Zoom... Read more »
MARY LOU’S FIANNA FÁIL FRIENDS
July 16, 2020
MICHEÁL MARTIN will have clocked the pro-Sinn Féin remarks of two Dublin TDs – Dublin North-West (DNW) new boy Paul McAuliffe and another newbie,... Read more »
VARADKAR’S SENATE CHOICES
July 2, 2020
WHAT IS it about former taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s general election running mates in Dublin West that sees them a) bombing in elections and b)... Read more »
WHAT WILL O’CALLAGHAN DO?
July 2, 2020
THE EXCLUSION of Jim O’Callaghan from cabinet was hardly unexpected – at least not to Phoenix readers (see edition 22/5/20) – and, by the... Read more »
MAYO MOTIONS
July 2, 2020
MAYO Fine Gael voted against the government formation deal and so did Kerry Blueshirts, but what has provoked widespread anger in the party is... Read more »
BALANCING CLIFFORD-LEE
July 2, 2020
AN TAOISEACH Micheál Martin gave expression to his modern, inclusive new world last weekend with the appointment of Traveller activist Eileen Flynn to the... Read more »
GURRIER GREENS VS GENTLE GREENS
June 18, 2020
THE MEDIA mantra about the Greens has changed from one condemning the party for not simply capitulating to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to... Read more »
MARTIN SWEATS IT OUT
June 18, 2020
THE NEUROTIC behaviour of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin as he closes in on the long-cherished, moist dream of becoming taoiseach – at the... Read more »
UN SECURITY COUNCIL FODDER
June 18, 2020
FOREIGN MINISTER Simon Coveney’s repetitive explanation to the Irish public of the government’s refusal to enact the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) – passed by... Read more »
BLUESHIRT BOSSY BOOTS
June 4, 2020
A QUEUE has formed to replace long-serving Fine Gael general secretary Tom Curran, who is expected to bow out at the end of August,... Read more »
HELEN OF NAVAN
June 4, 2020
LEO VARADKAR has a serious gender issue on his hands when it comes to selecting ministers for any new cabinet in the near future.... Read more »
MARIAN HARKIN VS MICHAEL LOWRY
June 4, 2020
FORMER MEP Marian Harkin strolled back into the Dáil in February – after an absence of 15 years spent in Euroland – but found... Read more »
GREENS LEFT-RIGHT LEADERSHIP CONTEST
May 21, 2020
GOLDHAWK CAN put an end to speculation about whether or not Green deputy leader Catherine Martin TD will stand for the party leadership. Martin... Read more »
SEAN KELLY’S HOT AIR
May 21, 2020
THE GREENS’ response to the provocative demand from Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly – a member of FG’s government formation reference group – to... Read more »
BARRISTERS VIE FOR CABINET
May 21, 2020
MANOEUVRING AND speculation about who will get what cabinet postings is considered to be in poor taste in current pandemic circumstances, but that doesn’t... Read more »
ARMY VICTIMS AND VILLAINS
May 21, 2020
MICHAEL HENEY, author of the explosive book The Arms Crisis of 1970, gave unstinting praise to the Army’s director of intelligence at the time,... Read more »
40 SHADES OF GREEN
May 7, 2020
THE GREENS’ deputy leader, Catherine Martin, had no problem confirming to the media that she voted against the party holding government formation talks with... Read more »
WILLIAM PRASIFKA’S POLITICAL PREFERENCES
May 7, 2020
BABY BARRISTER William Prasifka was busy last month when his private social media message was reported on by the Sunday Times, “I have been... Read more »
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT FEUD
May 7, 2020
THE NUMBERS in the new Dáil indicate that Sinn Féin will dominate the opposition benches – 37 seats to six each for Labour and... Read more »
MURPHY’S CO-LIVING WITH VIRUS
May 7, 2020
THE PANDEMIC is beginning to show up the folly of housing minister Eoghan Murphy’s planning ‘reforms’. Two years ago, he lowered apartment minimum standards... Read more »
ISRAEL NOT LOSING ANY SLEEP
April 23, 2020
GOLDHAWK WAS heartened to see in the proposed programme for government advanced by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that there was a firm commitment... Read more »