SMOKES & DAGGERS

Inside the corridors of power...

THERE were three fewer seats than usual in the Seanad press gallery for the new Seanad’s opening session on Wednesday, as they were occupied by three former parliamentarians: Donie Cassidy, Rory Kiely and Francie O’Brien (Francie is the loveable rogue who was jailed in 2013 for his part in a €100,000 extortion plot.) As it happened, though, the shortage of press seating hardly mattered, since the chamber’s proceedings are of zero interest to the press… NEW senator Frances Black, pictured, has revealed how she came to run for election: ‘It was suggested last year by a friend of mine who said, “You’d be great in the Seanad.”’ What a bizarre thing to say to anyone! It sounds like an artfully underhand insult. ANOTHER new senator, Grace O’Sullivan of the Green Party, was apparently part of the crew of the Rainbow Warrior, which was sunk by mines planted by the French secret service. It reminds Smokes of an American who said that a couple of decades ago he tried to help speed his passage through passport control in Paris by announcing loudly: ‘Je support le sinking de Rainbow Guerriere!’ SMOKES wonders how many kitchen walls in Dublin North West are displaying the UEFA Euro 2016 wallchart kindly supplied to constituents by local Fine Gael TD Noel Rock. It gives a handy rundown of the times and dates of all the fixtures. The only downside is the large image of a beaming Noel Rock at the bottom. VETERAN British Labour MP ‘Beast of Bolsover’ Dennis Skinner nearly missed the chance to continue his lifelong anti-Brussels crusade on June 23 owing to a health scare. ‘I lost a stone in hospital after coughing up blood for 16 hours,’ says Skinner, 84. ‘I’m the only MP who was in the Commons to vote against joining the Common Market in 1973, I’ve voted against every single EU treaty and I’m damned sure I’m voting this time too.’ IN APRIL, social justice warrior Hillary Clinton gave a speech in New York celebrating her victory in the Democratic primary in which she dwelled on favourite topics including the scourge of income inequality. Now it emerges that the jacket she wore while delivering that speech, pictured, was Armani tweed with a price tag north of $12,000. But perhaps she’ll redistribute the wealth so aggressively that everyone will be able to dress like her.