AoR should be absolutely safe. Nash i would hope so cos i think hes genuinely good. Smith got in by the skin of his teeth last time as last seat in a 5 seater. He is by no means safe. And there may well be constituency changes. Wall in Kildare was very unlucky last time as constituency was squeezed by o fearghail getting auto election as ceann comhairle. Would hope hed get in.
New seats will only come as they always have, hardworking local councillors who make an impression and suddenly do enough to get elected.
No hope against sf alright but sf will eat more into pbp etc now than last time.
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Whichever one of Kellys councillors in North Tipp area closely aligned to him will have a good chance if they run instead of him too if imagine.
But, will Kelly definitely walk away for good or run as an Independent is the key question.
Kelly would win the seat as an independent i say. Hes vote is for him and not Labour who are in a worse place wothout him
They may have been in an even worse place if theyd kept him and loads of stuff came out. There was no appetite for a change in leadership i believe.
ive a bridge to sell you if you thik thats the case
Who is going to address that â issue â that Kelly is gone? With Alan being removed the problem just doesnât go away?
Fair enough Art. Id imagine you know more about it than i do.
no inside information, just a logical look at the circumstances: bacik with the media wind in her sails, numbers stagnating, info on the child sex allegation gets released and kelly walks.
all very civilised and a bloodless coup, or a lupara biance if you prefer.
but the info getting into the public sphere is the bit that sticks out like a sore thumb considering the guilty party was convicted 10 years ago and the pic itself was 3 years ago, so why did it come out now and not when kelly went for the leadership in the first place? bacik is the only significant change to the parliamentary partyâŚ
What issue? The story from ditch? Iâd imagine that goes with Kelly. There would sadly have been other issues popping up if Kelly had stayed. There wasnât any pressure on him from within other than usual stuff about him not being very sound. Polls werenât great but werenât terrible. He had performed pretty well over corona virus etc.
Next election miles away.
This reads like a Waterford Whispers article, rather than the Indo.
Lovely bit of shithousery from McGuinness all the same. 
IT HAS emerged that Fianna FĂĄil TD John McGuinness presented Health Minister Stephen Donnelly with a childâs soother at a party meeting, as the pairâs ongoing public spat continues to rumble on.
Mr McGuinness made the presentation at the end of a Fianna FĂĄil parliamentary party meeting after Mr Donnelly brought up a 15-year-old controversy involving the backbench TDâs wife during a radio interview.
Mr McGuiness approached the minister at the top table of the meeting and handed him the soother, saying he hoped it would help âsoothe things overâ between them.
Mr Donnelly is believed to have not taken the offer well and did not accept the soother.
When his offer was rejected, Mr McGuiness said: âAre you sure you wonât take it for yourself or Robert (Watt)â.
The ministerâs spokesperson said Mr Donnelly will not be commenting on the incident.
It is understood the soother belonged to one of Mr McGuinessâs grandchildren.
On Tuesday, the minister launched a scathing attack on Mr McGuinness when he was questioned about the TDâs criticisms of his trip to a Dubai health and wellness conference in January amid the controversy over Mr Wattâs salary, which is nearly âŹ300,000.
Mr Watt is Department of Health secretary-general.
âI note that John McGuinness, when he was a junior minister, flew to Dubai and Chicago and many other places and quoted [Friedrich] Nietzsche, I think, at his line minister, saying why family members should go with him,â Mr Donnelly told RTĂ Radio Oneâs Today with Claire Byrne . âSo I wonât be taking any lectures from John McGuinness.â
Mr Donnelly was referring to Mr McGuinness complaining in 2007 to then Enterprise Minister MicheĂĄl Martin that he could not bring his wife on State visits to Dubai and Canada.
Mr McGuinness responded by saying the minister should resign if he cannot account for his involvement in the controversy surrounding Mr Wattâs salary.
He said Mr Watt should also consider his position over the long-running controversy. He also accused the two senior figures of showing contempt to the Oireachtas Finance Committee by refusing to come before them to discuss Mr Wattâs salary top-up of âŹ81,000.
Mr McGuinness said the minister was trying to âdivert attention from their unusual trip to Dubaiâ and the âextraordinary salaryâ.
âI reject entirely any attempt by Mr Watt or Mr Donnelly to use me in an effort to take the spotlight off their trip to Dubai (and) Mr Wattâs salary increase,â he said.
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I feel there will be a collective sigh of relief at the FF top table when the abrasive John calls it a day.
Heâs like a 38 year old Junior B corner back, intermittently stamping or your heel, pinching your back and driving his knee into you at every opportunity. Heâs an experienced and doughty fucker just the same.
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Donnelly is obviously a fool but McGuinness comes across as a fool in that episode too.
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Colm Brophy effortlessly getting Pearse Doherty all rilledup on the radio, which deflects away from real debate about cost of living
media handlers have Collie well trained.
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Pearse is a permanently angry man. Iâm not sure Iâve heard him not riled up in the last couple of years.
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Heâll need some media tuning before taking hold of the purse-strings from Paschal in 20 years time.
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I thought that was a northern thing?
I think a lot of that is coached indignation
The most agitated of them all is Matt Carthy. Heâs an absolutely hopeless debater, permanently shouting aggressively over whomever is handing him his arse. SF arenât overburdened with rational representatives when it comes to inter-party discussions.
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I donât mind that Rose Conway Walsh lady. She has a nice manner and way about her, you could say.
Louise OâReilly is living in the Virgin Media studio these days.
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