Article Category: Last Refuge

NEUTRALITY: THE FINAL PUSH

April 6, 2023

THE GOVERNMENT has finally decided to launch a ground offensive against neutrality with a series of discussions or “forums” on the issue later... Read more »

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FREE FRANCE!

April 6, 2023

FORMER BRITISH Labour MP, now Baroness Kate Hoey (courtesy of then UK prime minister Boris Johnson in 2020) has enraged even those who... Read more »

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POLLS SPELL DISASTER FOR FF

April 6, 2023

ONCE AGAIN, the media fixation on the latest poll is on how Sinn Féin compares with both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. But... Read more »

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BERTIE TO FIX IT FOR SF/FF COALITION?

April 6, 2023

WHAT SCHEMING object has the most cunning one in mind when he tells Fianna Fáil and its leader, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, that he... Read more »

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PRESIDENT BIDEN CONGRATS IRELAND

March 23, 2023

AS TÁNAISTE and foreign minister Micheál Martin embarked on his trip to the US for the annual St Patrick’s Day performance, his press... Read more »

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‘SERIOUSLY GOOD BIT OF STUFF’

March 23, 2023

Unnoticed by the Irish media – ie her former colleagues – European ombudsman Emily O’Reilly pulled off the rare feat last week of... Read more »

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O’REILLY V HOURIGAN

March 22, 2023

THE GREEN Party chairperson and ultra-loyal lieutenant of Eamon Ryan, senator Pauline O’Reilly, is gunning for Neasa Hourigan TD as the latter contributed... Read more »

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SOC DEMS LEADER TO LOSE SEAT?

March 8, 2023

THE BIG bounce that new Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns gave the party – up five points to 9% – says something about... Read more »

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GREEN PARTY DROPS TRIPLE LOCK

March 8, 2023

THE FIANNA FÁIL leader and Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, will be pleased with Cabinet colleague Eamon Ryan, who recently persuaded his now-domesticated Green Party... Read more »

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MICHEÁL MARTIN’S NUCLEAR RECORD

March 8, 2023

THE 2023 Conference on Disarmament in Geneva last month heard Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin denounce Russia for its recent pronouncements... Read more »

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SINN FÉIN FLEES TO CENTRE

March 8, 2023

A RECENT statement by left-wing TDs and senators, excluding Sinn Féin, in the Irish Times made the ever so provocative suggestion that Ireland... Read more »

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FINE GAEL CROSSES THE BORDER

February 22, 2023

FINE GAEL’S move to set up its own organizational structures north of the border says as much about Fianna Fáil’s wavering commitment to... Read more »

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BERTIE’S GOOD OL’ BOYS

February 22, 2023

DOWN IN the constituency organisation of Fianna Fáil in Dublin Central (DC), one person who will have gritted her teeth while affecting to... Read more »

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VARADKAR TAILS FAR RIGHT

February 22, 2023

THE LATEST party political poll – from the Sunday Times/Behaviour and Attitudes (B&A) – shows again the almost secret war raging between Fianna... Read more »

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WHO WILL WIN EXTRA DUBLIN DÁIL SEATS?

February 22, 2023

WITH ANYTHING from 11 to 21 extra seats likely to emerge from the impending constituency revisions to be brought in by the Electoral... Read more »

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GREENS DIVIDE ON NEUTRALITY

February 9, 2023

THE ONGOING mystery continues surrounding the Green Party’s policy on defence, security and neutrality – for long the most sacred of Green principles... Read more »

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BRENDAN GRIFFIN’S EXIT

February 9, 2023

LEO VARADKAR may only have himself to blame for the departure from Fine Gael at the next election of the party’s only TD... Read more »

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EXPENSIVE TDs’ EXPENSES

February 9, 2023

THE HASTE with which Government parties and a concerned media seized on Sinn Féin’s election expenses errors to bury the saga of Paschal... Read more »

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‘IRISH TIMES’ V IVANA

February 9, 2023

LABOUR LEADER Ivana Bacik has been getting out and about recently, mainly in the media, in an effort to drag her party back... Read more »

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PUSSY CAT BARRY COWEN

January 26, 2023

MEDIA SURPRISE at the new model Barry Cowen’s merciful attitude to beleaguered Blueshirt minister Paschal Donohoe – normally a legitimate target in Cowen’s... Read more »

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GENERAL ELECTION TIMING

January 26, 2023

LEO VARADKAR’S stated preference for a general election to be held in the autumn of 2024 has not gone down well inside Fianna... Read more »

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VARADKAR’S SECOND COMING

January 26, 2023

LAST WEEKEND’S Behaviour and Attitudes/Sunday Times (B&A/ST) poll, showing Fianna Fáil six points ahead of Fine Gael (25-19), reflects the difference between B&A/ST... Read more »

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MARIA BAILEY COMEBACK?

January 26, 2023

FORMER FINE GAEL TD Maria Bailey paid off a few scores in Simon Carswell’s Irish Times piece at the weekend, with Taoiseach Leo... Read more »

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A TAOISEACH ONCE AGAIN

January 12, 2023

ONE PRESUMES that former taoiseach, now Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, was not entirely gulled by the remarks of Leo Varadkar, then his second-in-command, to... Read more »

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ARISE LAZARUS O’DONNELL

January 12, 2023

THE PROMOTION of long-time Fine Gael backbench TD Kieran O’Donnell to the post of junior minister for local government and planning was described... Read more »

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BRENDAN GRIFFIN’S AMBITIONS

January 12, 2023

FINE GAEL TD and former junior sports minister Brendan Griffin walked off the pitch in what looked like a sulk as he was... Read more »

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MARTIN’S PAYROLL VOTE CAPPED

January 12, 2023

THE WEEKS leading up to the most uneventful ministerial reshuffle in memory saw repeated references to a possible expansion of junior ministers by... Read more »

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VARADKAR AT RISK FROM COVENEY FANS?

December 15, 2022

A STATE of fear and paralysis descended on Fine Gael members, especially at senior level, as that video of incoming Taoiseach Leo Varadkar... Read more »

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RTÉ DEFIES GOVERNMENT TDS

December 15, 2022

WHAT BEGAN as a run-of-the-mill targeting of Sinn Féin by Government members of the Oireachtas joint committee on the media developed into an... Read more »

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IS MARTIN NOW SAFE AS LEADER?

December 15, 2022

POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTS appear to be unanimous in their view — a view spun with assiduous intent by the party’s handlers — that Micheál... Read more »

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‘UNITED’ GREEN PARTY

December 1, 2022

THE GREENS put on a show of unity and purpose last Saturday in a convention that was several galaxies distant from traditional gatherings... Read more »

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IRELAND JOINS THE COLD WAR NEUTRALITY

December 1, 2022

AN ALARMING note recently from one of Goldhawk’s agents in Moscow’s sphere of interest advanced the proposition that the Irish Government is involved... Read more »

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CRAUGHWELL’S FORGOTTEN ARMY

December 1, 2022

SENATORS MICHAEL McDowell and Gerard Craughwell issued some aggressive statements about the refusal of Government and the Defence Forces to give official endorsement... Read more »

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EAST WALL’S GANDHI RESURFACES

December 1, 2022

AMONG THE speakers, mostly outsiders from the hard right, attempting to mobilise East Wall residents against refugees was a more exotic political personality,... Read more »

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MISCOUNTING GENDER QUOTAS

November 17, 2022

ELEVATION TO the Fianna Fáil ard comhairle (AC) may not be everyone’s idea of political paradise but it caused a dispute between junior... Read more »

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FF BALANCE OF FORCES

November 17, 2022

MUCH SPECULATION about minor adjustments to Cabinet members of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the December upheaval ignores the likelihood of... Read more »

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