SMOKES & DAGGERS
A mischievous mix of political asides with JOHN DRENNAN
SOCIAL Democrat TD Gary Gannon made quite the unfortunate verbal slip at a Dáil demonstration against the Israel-Gaza war. He began by noting: ‘As I speak today I am very conscious of a word I am going to use. That word I am about to use is genocide and it is not a word I take seriously’.
MINISTER for the Media Catherine Martin who rarely talks to the media – except to RTÉ obviously – announced on Thursday a press conference with an hours’ notice at a location that was an hour away from where the political media are mostly based in Leinster House. Alas, given the logistics (and in the absence of a Garda escort) no-one was able to make it. This couldn’t be deliberate, could it?
STAYING with matters mundane, the ever-busy Labour Party press office this week informed us of a media opportunity in quite the snazzy fashion noting the ‘Who’ would be Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the ‘Where’ would be Leinster House Plinth and the ‘When’ would be 11:30am on Tuesday, January 30, 2024. One hack commented dryly: ‘The only thing we’re missing is the why bother?’
CHATTER in the Dáil corridors is that in the European election race in Munster, Fine Gael are struggling to secure any celebrities and are planning an audacious swoop for Seán Óg Ó hAilpin, the former Cork hurling star. To borrow from the great Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh famous introduction: Seán Og’s father’s from Fermanagh, his mother’s from Fiji. Neither a Fine Gael stronghold.
PADDY’S Day trips were announced and a Government TD was quick to note how impressed they were by the Green ministerial air miles. They noted: ‘Eamon Ryan in Brazil, Catherine Martin in America, Roderic in Japan, Ossian in Korea. They’ll have to be doing a lot of cycling when they get back to burn off those carbon credits.’