Was Leo Varadkar’s speech a “shameless PR exercise”? PLUS: what steps should the government be taking to beat Covid-19? #gript
Most of the praise for the Taoiseach’s well-delivered speech to the nation last night has focused on his reassuring tone and calm embodiment of national determination. Those things, are, of course, entirely subjective. For myself, I thought it was very good – his finest hour in fact, not that there’s much competition for that particular […]
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has announced that all schools, colleges and childcare facilities are to close from 6pm today until 29th March.
Leo Varadkar has suffered a humiliating defeat. That is being largely forgotten, this morning, with all the talk about the Sinn Fein surge. The Taoiseach was elected by Fine Gael because they believed him best placed to win a general election. He is young. He is based in Dublin. He is metropolitan, and liberal, and […]
Last night’s leaders debate between the three people vying to be the next Taoiseach has earned high praise from some of the UK journalists visiting our shores to find out how Ireland conducts its politics. For all that Irish people might think that our politicians are sub-standard, at least some of those observing from abroad […]
It was perhaps inevitable that Leo would do a Hillary and lash out at the rump of ‘deplorables’ who are muddying the electoral waters for him.
It might be hard to remember, in the full flush of this morning’s feeding frenzy around her, that Senator Catherine Noone has been widely regarded, for the past few years, as one of the brightest stars in the Fine Gael heavens. On paper, she is the perfect candidate, and the perfect politician, for the new […]
Senator Catherine Noone, a candidate for Fine Gael has issued an apology for calling Taoiseach Leo Varadkar “autistic” during an election canvass. The Times last night reported that Ms Noone, a candidate Dublin Bay North, said of Mr Varadkar “He’s autistic like, he’s on the spectrum, there’s no doubt about it. He’s uncomfortable socially and he […]
The government is not even pretending to care about women’s safety any more. When Simon Harris had an abortion referendum to sell, voters were told repeatedly that the safety of women in pregnancy was a top priority. We were reminded that after the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar from sepsis, Leo Varadkar had set up the National Maternity […]
This is the kind of thing now that Mary Lou McDonald would be hopping mad about, if it was said by someone in any other party, but because it was a Sinn Fein Councillor, she’ll stay nice and quiet. One rule for the likes of you, another for party members in good standing, like Councillor […]
The news headlines this morning are breath-taking in their awfulness. A homeless man maimed for life because Dublin City Council thought his tent was unsightly and removed it with a digger while he was still inside. A teenager killed and chopped up (no word yet on whether he was alive or dead when the latter […]
“The Dáil will return next week”, announced the Taoiseach this morning, which is slightly different from his position yesterday, which was that the Dáil might not, in fact, return next week, because Fine Gael is so ready for a General Election. It’s good that the national parliament is returning for at least one more week, […]