A baptism of real f ire for a newcomer like Feeney

ON THE canvass last week in Blackrock, Fianna Fáil newcomer Kate Feeney put a brave face on her electoral prospects. Thrown into a controversy not of her making and now the focus of a battle between the young and dynamic Fianna Fáil Nua and the old guard with its toxic arrogant legacy, I couldn’t help but feel for the 28-year-old accountant. Okay, she is not exactly a neophyte – her mother Geraldine was a Fianna Fáil senator and she is President of Ógra, the party’s youth wing. But even so it takes a lot of guts to become one of the newly branded party’s first candidates and face the electorate, rather than just chattering in the back rooms about renewal. To do so in a vacuum of support from party headquarters makes her even more impressive. ‘It was daunting for me to put my name on the ballot paper in the first place and it was a very big decision,’ she says. ‘There’s a lot of pressure, it’s nerve racking and to have that now in the eyes of the national media, it just adds to the pressure.’

The members of Ógra will be following Ms Feeney’s progress with interest. A disappointing poll will not just have consequences for her, it will also delay the party’s revival and dissuade other young activists from electoral politics.

AS John Moran, right, the dapper head of the Department of Finance, announced his surprise exit from the job, his colleagues on Merrion Street said that his timing was impeccable. ‘Now is the time,’ said one insider breathlessly. ‘Ireland’s reputation is absolute gold, so it’s a good time to go. This is their greatest “come and get me” ever.’ Oh I don’t know about that – surely Mary Hanafin’s invitation to the Fianna Fáil HQ was just as audacious when she said she was running in Dublin without or without their blessing.