Dark days as plug pulled on illuminating Oireachtas gatheringDAIL SKETCH: IT’S A nice tradition, the annual switching on of the Leinster House Christmas tree lights.Wed Dec 01 2010 - 00:00
In Donegal Sinn Féin winner is raised to the rafters - and not a Tricolour in sightTHE WINNER stood tall, penned in by the pungent embrace of his overheated supporters.Sat Nov 27 2010 - 00:00
As Bailout Boys dish out contagion remedy, it's all over bar the spoofingThe pain of withdrawal symptoms was etched on the faces of the Government as they launched the National Wreckovery PlanThu Nov 25 2010 - 00:00
Hush falls as caretaker Cowen speaks softly and takes stickDÁIL SKETCH: TAOISEACH IS still the title, but caretaker is now the job.Wed Nov 24 2010 - 00:00
Final whistle is only thing Biffo has yet to blowBRIAN COWEN may not have been elected Taoiseach by the people, but he has squatter’s rights now and it’ll take more than the …Tue Nov 23 2010 - 00:00
Biffo tells gasping Dáil there's no such thing as a bailoutDÁIL SKETCH: Taoiseach insists Bailout Boys from abroad are merely dropping by for some ‘engagement’Thu Nov 18 2010 - 00:00
Europe - it's not us, it's youDAIL SKETCH: THE PATIENT is a basket case and refusing treatment.Wed Nov 17 2010 - 00:00
Unbearable lightness of being Brian not catching onDÁIL SKETCH: An aural assault takes its toll before the mandarin mystery gets ears twitching againThu Nov 11 2010 - 00:00
Taoiseach up against it with morbid Morgue and Angel of DebtDÁIL SKETCH: Biffo bids to stay sunny but negative onslaught suggests he may be just too semi-detachedWed Nov 10 2010 - 00:00
'Let them eat cheese' approach fails to butter up electorateIRELAND ENTERED the Twilight Zone yesterday – tipped into another dimension by a gaffe-prone Government’s cheesy attempt to butter…Sat Nov 06 2010 - 00:00
'Let them eat cheese' approach fails to butter up electorateIreland entered the Twilight Zone yesterday – tipped into another dimension by a gaffe-prone Government’s cheesy attempt to butter…Sat Nov 06 2010 - 00:00
Economy won't be the only wreck for long as Coalition runaway train heads for the buffersOUR RUNAWAY train is coming to the end of the lineFri Nov 05 2010 - 00:00
Caught bang to rights trying to subvert democracy to save their skinsDÁIL SKETCH: That the Government was told off over delaying a byelection is neither here nor thereThu Nov 04 2010 - 00:00
This 'man overboard' had long since cast himself adriftDÁIL SKETCH: “ANOTHER MAN overboard today,” remarked a jaunty Enda Kenny from the crow’s nest of OppositionWed Nov 03 2010 - 00:00
Arctic Ahern keeps his head when all about him are losing theirsDÁIL SKETCH: DERMOT AHERN, and the way he might look at you.Fri Oct 29 2010 - 01:00
Nothing added but time as effervescent Brians keep turning corners on highway to hellDAIL SKETCH: THERE’S A big difference between turning corners and going around the bend.Thu Oct 28 2010 - 01:00
Time passes slowly during afternoon tea in Biffo's officeDÁIL SKETCH: TICK, TOCK, tick, tock...Thu Oct 21 2010 - 01:00
Cowen puts faith in Nirvana but Gilmore and Kenny in no mood for entertainmentDÁIL SKETCH: A LITTLE ray of sunshine is warming the polar night of Irish politics.Wed Oct 20 2010 - 01:00
Miriam Lord's WeekHunt over for Labour’s Tommy Broughan, Irish Times columnist gives it straight to FF, Ginger spices up Limerick expansion debate…Sat Oct 16 2010 - 01:00
Press gathers in anticipation of Baldy's hair-raising descent into chaosDÁIL SKETCH: AN ASHEN-FACED Michael Noonan stands on the steps of the Department of FinanceThu Oct 14 2010 - 01:00
Boutros Boutros-Gormley pushes the envelopeDÁIL SKETCH: THE UN’S loss is Ireland’s gain.Wed Oct 13 2010 - 01:00
Nostalgia time at Leaders' Questions as old-favourites get another outingDAIL SKETCH: OLD BERTIE Hubbard (stuck in a cupboard) wasn’t in the chamber to witness his successor administering the Last …Thu Oct 07 2010 - 01:00
Counsel sticks the boot in as Ivor the Driver's challenge revs upIT WAS a big day in the Four Courts yesterday for Labour Senator Alex White.Wed Oct 06 2010 - 01:00
Take comfort weary TDs - only 33 sitting days till ChristmasDÁIL SKETCH: THE DÁIL is back. Happy new year, lads. Only 33 sitting days left until ChristmasThu Sept 30 2010 - 01:00
Cowen's alma mater a coveted panaceaThe pep in a politician’s step turned into another language malfunction yesterday – without a flicker from the bossThu Sept 23 2010 - 01:00
No need for grapes or even wrath - Brian is backWE KNEW the turbulence of the last week had taken its toll on the Taoiseach, but when we inquired about his whereabouts the answer…Wed Sept 22 2010 - 01:00
Journeying Senator chooses road not taken to courtFREE THE Clontarf One! Justice for Ivor! Up Cork! We, the members of The Callely Solidarity Movement (incorporating the Cork/…Wed Sept 08 2010 - 01:00
Bilocating Confucius Callely in the wilderness for 20 days and 20 nightsThe saga of Ivor and his moveable expenses elbowed Senators off the centre stageThu Jul 15 2010 - 01:00
Demob happy Cowen? Don't be a fool . . .DÁIL SKETCH: FOR A man about to escape answering questions in the Dáil for the next three months, Brian Cowen was in foul humour…Thu Jul 08 2010 - 01:00
Shaky foundations exposed in Biffo's Nama dramaDÁIL SKETCH: AND FIRST, some good news. We hear Mattie McGrath is a little hoarse. (Or hoss, as he might put it himselfWed Jul 07 2010 - 01:00
Not quite Disney, but Baldy and the Beast stir hopes of fairytale endingBALDY AND the Beast. Not quite the stuff of Disney, but with Michael Noonan and James Reilly playing the principal roles on Enda…Fri Jul 02 2010 - 01:00
Green pups take being anti-litter to a whole new levelDÁIL SKETCH: John Gormley is holding Biffo’s rural carnivores to ransom at the blunt end of a lettuceThu Jul 01 2010 - 01:00
Mattie going over the edge not enough for stag party in DáilDÁIL SKETCH: LIKE A team of police negotiators, the Government’s men and women tried to talk Mattie downWed Jun 30 2010 - 01:00
Is this just fantasy? Cowen rhapsody a true high note for Anglo-Irish dreamDÁIL SKETCH: Eamon and Enda wax lyrical about property tax but Queen routine consumes TaoiseachThu Jun 24 2010 - 01:00
Biffona Biffona not quite out of denial stageDÁIL SKETCH: “THIS IS dead money, in a dead bank, in a black holeWed Jun 23 2010 - 01:00
Cappuccino generation falls to those who eat dinner at middayAn Oxbridge education counted for nothing as Richard Bruton’s hopes ended amid visceral roars of ‘Up Mayo!’Fri Jun 18 2010 - 01:00
Seasoned observers less swayed by victory flares from rebel campDÁIL SKETCH: WILL AMBITIOUS inexperience triumph today? Or will the old dog for the hard road come out ahead? Nobody knows, …Thu Jun 17 2010 - 01:00
Never again will we have to listen to politicians blaming LehmanAND AFTER all that, our shiny high-end international designer recession (hand-stitched by shysters in Manhattan) turns out to…Thu Jun 10 2010 - 01:00
Big Ian's visit takes place on day of historic disharmonyDÁIL SKETCH: AMID SCENES of unfettered roaring, history was made in Leinster House yesterday.Fri Jun 04 2010 - 01:00
Ivor fails to put Cork in the D4 meejaDÁIL SKETCH: YET ANOTHER example of the Dublin 4 media trying to hound a decent man from the country out of a job.Thu Jun 03 2010 - 01:00
Rocky road ahead for Ivor the Driver while Cowen has his eye on IsraelDÁIL SKETCH: A TOUCH of west Cork came to Leinster House yesterdayWed Jun 02 2010 - 01:00
At least they're cutting Kildare Street emissionsDÁIL SKETCH: A LAZY hazy afternoon chewing the cud in the Dáil chamber.Thu May 27 2010 - 01:00
Miriam Lord's WeekSparkling news for Creighton; Gilmore puts on the glitz; Feargal Quinn may be a Super Mayor; FG tries to zap FF rivals and Conor…Sat May 22 2010 - 01:00
As asses roar it's business as usual in the chamberDÁIL SKETCH: WHEN IS an ass not an ass? When he’s Bernard Durkan, Fine Gael TD and windbag in chief of the 30th Dáil.Thu May 20 2010 - 01:00
It's the era of Dave - and Inda's come up smelling of ToryDÁIL SKETCH: SHINY DAVE was hardly in the door of 10 Downing Street before Inda began playing footsie with him.Thu May 13 2010 - 01:00
Two years is a long time in the spirit-sapping era of BiffoDÁIL SKETCH: IT CAN’T beThu May 06 2010 - 01:00
Corporate headhunters set to pick off brightest and bestDAIL SKETCH: WHAT A day it was around Leinster HouseThu Apr 29 2010 - 01:00
Fate of Leinster House pensioners now a humanitarian issueDÁIL SKETCH: SCIENTISTS WERE baffled. A dusty buzzing cloud suddenly appeared above Drumcondra yesterday afternoonWed Apr 28 2010 - 01:00
Miriam Lord's WeekMissing the Labour conference; (A)viva Messi; taking office; first for Google; birthday boys; Flanagan’s fashion; Fingers…Sat Apr 24 2010 - 01:00
Brand Higgins fails to draw the crowds despite rousing cry of vindicationVINDICATION WAS sweet for Comrade Joe. Not, it goes without saying, that he was taking any pleasure in it.Fri Apr 02 2010 - 01:00
