SMOKES & DAGGERS

A mischievous mix of political asides with JOHN DRENNAN

■ SMOKES is not above college humour, and was amused by Trinity Seanad candidate Michael McDermott’s election leaflet (via Electionliterature.com). With the slogan, ‘A nice alternative to spoiling your vote’, PhD researcher McDermott, below, has a novel idea to tackle the draconian defamation laws, ‘If elected I’ll use my Oireachtas privilege to slander whoever you want’. He promises to improve the living standards of PhD students, adding that electing him, a PhD student, would improve his standard of living, ‘so we’ll already be off to a good start’.

■ POLITICIANS tend to be wise in hindsight. A rare example of foresight was provided by the wise old Fine Gael owl Billy Timmons who, on the day of Ivana Bacik’s Dublin Bay South by-election victory, tweeted, ‘The real loser today may be the leader of the victorious party’. We dare not ask which way he sees the war in Ukraine going.

■ AFTER a vote on action on petrol prices on Tuesday, Mattie McGrath erstwhile unofficial leader of the regional independents group, posted indignantly on Facebook. He was shocked that independents Cathal Berry, Peter Fitzpatrick, Denis Naughten and Matt Shanahan supported the Government, while Michael Lowry, Sean Canney and Noel Grealish did not register a vote. This set the cat among the independent pigeons. One minister noted: ‘Treason in the ranks. Most unfortunate. The independents will have to leave the independent party and go independent if they are not careful.’

■ THE discovery of Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, prompted one Fine Gaeler to hope it would not cause ‘difficulties’ for Sinn Féin. He was referring to the to-do over a statue to Shackleton in his home town of Athy, Co. Kildare. Sinn Féin opposed it on the grounds that Shackleton, above, was British. The councillor who led the resistance, ironically, was named Redmond.