SMOKES & DAGGERS

A mischievous mix of political asides with JOHN DRENNAN

LEAS-CHEANN Comhairle Catherine Connolly TD provided some light relief in Thursday’s Dáil sitting by mistaking FF’s Paul McAuliffe, below right, for SF’s Chris Andrews, below left, who look nothing alike. Tánaiste Varadkar tried to spare the chair’s blushes, saying she shouldn’t be embarrassed: ‘I’m regularly mistaken for the Taoiseach, and we look nothing alike.’ Touché!

IN A rare moment of charity, Smokes will not name the political grandee minister, who noted of the botched political execution of Social Democratleaning Hazel Chu, that it was all getting like the three witches in Macbeth. There’s quite enough ‘toil and trouble’ going on without somebody else engaging in the dangerous practice of making references to witches.

SMOKES was impressed by the pithy analysis by one veteran of Josepha Madigan’s, pictured below, solicitous desire to ‘help’ Helen McEntee for six months during her maternity leave. After the selection of Heather Humphreys and Hildegarde Naughton instead, the source said: ‘Josepha was keen to help Helen, but Helen was less willing to be helped: well, by Josepha anyway.’

SIMON HARRIS’S hiring of Deirdre Duffy, Paschal Donohoe’s election running mate, engendered cynical comments on how, when it comes to jobs for the genders miscelleanous, no one is left behind. Some even said that should Leo have a terrible accident, the support of Paschal owing to kind deeds done, might be critical for hopeful successors.

THERE has been much talk about a memorial to the murdered senator Billy Fox, but Smokes hears Heather Humphreys has already secured €174,500 for a memorial in her constituency. What’s that old saying? Men talk, women do.