Article Category: Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL AND THE NORTH

October 5, 2017

THE Vlad v. Mary Lou WWE show in the Dáil is the latest blood sport to grip the body politic. It is working... Read more »

DARA MURPHY’S EURO JOB

October 5, 2017

THE post of director of elections for the European People’s Party (EPP) at the European elections in 2019 sounds like a most responsible... Read more »

FF TARGET TEN DUBLIN SEATS

September 21, 2017

IF the latest Sunday Times poll (Fine Gael 33%/Fianna Fáil 25%) was to translate into real electoral figures then Fianna Fáil could forget... Read more »

MARTIN WILL DEAL WITH SINN FÉIN

September 21, 2017

MICHEÁL MARTIN delivered yet another thundering disavowal of any coalition deal with Sinn Féin at this week’s Fianna Fáil think-in in Longford. But... Read more »

WILD COLONIAL MINISTER

September 21, 2017

JUNIOR minister, Brendan Griffin, has played a blinder in the last few years, starting with a selfless public gesture on his first general... Read more »

BLUESHIRT SISTERS TO UNSEAT ALAN KELLY?

September 21, 2017

THE Blueshirt political waste land that is Tipperary will not necessarily be reclaimed by the entry of Mary Newman – sister of Kate... Read more »

Mary Hanafin’s last shot

September 7, 2017

THE mother of all Fianna Fáil faction fights is gearing up in Dún Laoghaire where ex-minister, now humble councillor, Mary Hanafin, is preparing... Read more »

CABINET PENSION CALCULATIONS

September 7, 2017

THE delicate political calculations about when Leo Varadkar might call the next general election will be determined by a number of fluctuating circumstances... Read more »

SOC DEMS ‘NO’ TO LABOUR

September 7, 2017

THAT recent two fingers from the Social Democrats to the Labour Party’s pleas for unity was especially hostile and was accompanied by withering... Read more »

UKIP’s Anne Marie Waters

September 7, 2017

A PECULIAR spin-off of Brexit has been the implosion of UKIP, the militant Little Englander group that now sees Irish woman Anne Marie... Read more »

‘Young, Vibrant’ Labour Party

August 24, 2017

Brendan Howlin LIKE Enda Kenny in 2002 and Micheál Martin in 2011, Brendan Howlin is trying to revive Labour after a disastrous election... Read more »

Craughwell’s ‘Allies’

August 24, 2017

Gerard Craughwell SENATOR Gerard Craughwell’s tilt at the Áras is a little quixotic despite, or perhaps because of, his dalliance with four political... Read more »

Judicial Bluster

August 24, 2017

Shane Ross HOW well The Irish Times knew to request – under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act – a copy of that... Read more »

FF Confidence and Supply Cabinet

August 24, 2017

Micheál Martin THE ongoing and agonising debates about possible permutations to form the next coalition government are all predicated on the notion that... Read more »

VARADKAR’S WELL OILED PR MACHINE

August 10, 2017

Martin Fraser THE “strategic communications unit” to be created at the heart of government has an Orwellian ring to it and there is... Read more »

FF BORDER ROW

August 10, 2017

Stephen Donnelly THE ROW between Leo Varadkar and the DUP over the border and Brexit is polite compared to the clash between Fianna... Read more »

Byrne Dynasty

August 10, 2017

GOLDHAWK noted the resentment among Fianna Fáil frontbenchers at the perceived media favouritism enjoyed by Meath East TD Thomas Byrne via his frat... Read more »

GERRY ADAMS’S LONG GOODBYE

August 10, 2017

Gerry Adams THAT Mary Lou McDonald and not El Presidente Gerry Adams delivered Sinn Féin’s coalition message to Fianna Fáil last week can... 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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »