Too many spanners and a shortage of sharp tacks in the tool boxDAIL SKETCH: EVERY GOVERNMENT needs its ministers – a vital assortment of tools required to ensure the smooth running of any…Thu Apr 23 2009 - 01:00
Discounted developments replace old-fashioned national assetsDAIL SKETCH: YOUNG PEOPLE are our greatest national asset.Thu Apr 09 2009 - 01:00
Coughlan's half-car handmaidensDÁIL SKETCH: HOW MANY Ministers does it take to run the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment? No, this is not a joke…Thu Apr 02 2009 - 01:00
Cowen should take heart from how Bertie saved St Luke'sDÁIL SKETCH: WITH THIS Government, it always comes back to the builders.Wed Apr 01 2009 - 01:00
Gilmore pushes all the right buttonsCONFERENCE SKETCH: IN THE run-up to Labour’s weekend gathering, an advance party from headquarters arrived to check out the …Mon Mar 30 2009 - 01:00
No losing sight of the big picture as Portraitgate rumbles onDAIL SKETCH: IT IS not just the recession that has sent the construction industry into a tailspin, we mused during Leaders’ …Thu Mar 26 2009 - 00:00
Gormley goes green as McCaughey news leaksDÁIL SKETCH: JOO DILIGENCE fell off the wagon yesterday afternoon.Wed Mar 25 2009 - 00:00
Tánaiste gets in a bit of practice on budget menusDÁIL SKETCH: SORREEE! WE’RE all out of Happy MealsThu Mar 12 2009 - 00:00
Queasy Greens looking a little off-colourDÁIL SKETCH: DÁIL STATEMENTS on the Challenges Facing the Health Service could not have come at a more crucial time.Wed Mar 11 2009 - 00:00
Cowen stubbornly stands against the oncoming financial delugeDÁIL SKETCH: IT WAS difficult to know whether the Taoiseach was more traumatised by the door falling off Kamikaze Cullen’s helicopter…Wed Mar 04 2009 - 00:00
A country music uplift is stretching things a bit far, DonieSEANAD SKETCH: YES, DONIE. How right you are.Thu Feb 26 2009 - 00:00
A nod is as good as a wink to cornered banker or blind regulatorSKETCH: NUDGE, NUDGE.Wed Feb 25 2009 - 00:00
Letting off some steam on the monster march“BODIES” SCREAMED the billboard above the Ambassador Theatre, just in case we hadn’t noticedMon Feb 23 2009 - 00:00
Race to unmask the Anglo commandos has deputies jitteryDAIL SKETCH: NOBODY KNEW anything about it until well after the dust had settledThu Feb 19 2009 - 00:00
Cowen battles on regardless as 'Joo Diligence' fails to showDAIL SKETCH: THERE WAS widespread shock in Leinster House when news broke that Joo Diligence, through her lawyers, had declined…Wed Feb 18 2009 - 00:00
House agog as angry Green Hornet condemns sharp practicesDAIL SKETCH: Mild-mannered, bespectacled John Gormley may look like an ordinary Minister for the Environment who goes to work…Fri Feb 13 2009 - 00:00
The €7bn man sliced up in bank operationDÁIL SKETCH: “Stand aside Nurse Cowen!” he cried, “I’m going deep into the banking system..Thu Feb 12 2009 - 00:00
Cowen returns to the humdrum after the frenzy of last weekThe media went into overdriveWed Feb 11 2009 - 00:00
Cowen finds his inner ObamaNot a State of the Nation speech once again; big Haughey clan turnout; mystery of the Swedish model; and pretender to Bard of…Sat Feb 07 2009 - 00:00
Joan turns her guns on hapless Tánaiste and stunned colleaguesDÁIL SKETCH : THE TÁNAISTE went for a Burton yesterday. And no, she didn’t have another Dáil mishap.Thu Feb 05 2009 - 00:00
Late in the day Cowen lets his passion showAfter a depressing performance in the Dáil, the Taoiseach finally spoke clearly at teatimeWed Feb 04 2009 - 00:00
Tribalism and petulance rule as Ministers carry on regardlessDAIL SKETCH: "I'M OFF!" Two words from the Minister for Transport summed up his Government's attitude yesterday to discussing…Thu Jan 29 2009 - 00:00
Cool Hand Cowen's huge personal gambleDÁIL SKETCH: What has he got? Has he anything at all? Is he bluffing? Tension has been building for weeks, but Brian Cowen has…Wed Jan 28 2009 - 00:00
'Sooty and Sweep' offer little in way of hopeIt was an unusual message of hope, to put it mildly. Very tough times lie ahead, said Brian CowenWed Jan 21 2009 - 00:00
Offaly poor showingWith a political year as dramatic as this, who could blame the Taoiseach for wanting a bit of Bertie’s luckSat Dec 27 2008 - 00:00
Ministers savaged as hunt hots up for Cowen's invisible planDÁIL SKETCH: THE MAN with the invisible plan scuttled away at lunchtime and won't be back in the Dáil chamber for some time, …Thu Dec 18 2008 - 00:00
Patriotic dining on the menu as Cowen's luck turns liverishDAIL SKETCH: THINK LONG and hard, Ceann Comhairle, before you agree to switch on the Christmas tree lights today, especially…Wed Dec 10 2008 - 00:00
FF cheers up as Biffo comes back from the deadSKETCH: AAH, THE Christmas. It's for the little onesThu Dec 04 2008 - 00:00
Fásten your seatbelts for a ride with the space cadetsDÁIL SKETCH: This 'accountability' talk is almost enough to take the good out of the hard work being done in Florida by Fás…Wed Nov 26 2008 - 00:00
An official opening and that small matter of a rugby matchDÁIL SKETCH: When Leaders' Questions ended, Biffo and the Bull shot out of the trapsWed Nov 19 2008 - 00:00
Good day for carrots but a bad one for young girlsDÁIL SKETCH: AT LEAST Trevor Sargent looked happyThu Nov 13 2008 - 00:00
Kenny's outrage most in touch with public moodDÁIL SKETCH : "This is a war. Win it!" Perhaps Enda Kenny was being a touch dramaticWed Nov 12 2008 - 00:00
Barackmania fails to lift Dail above the mundaneThe spirit of Barack flooded the Dáil chamber yesterday, easing the fevered brows of those who stayed up late watching the election…Thu Nov 06 2008 - 00:00
Dáil hails Three Marys not so full of grace under Opposition fireDÁIL SKETCH : The Two Brians were nowhere to be seen as Fine Gael and Labour got the maul rollingFri Oct 17 2008 - 01:00
Aftermath of cluster bomb Budget leaves all sides seeing redDÁIL SKETCH: HEALTH CUTS hurt the old, the sick and the government..Thu Oct 16 2008 - 01:00
Sustained attack means it is time to confuse enemyDÁIL SKETCH: MINISTER OF STATE Peter Power went on Questions and Answers on Monday night and did his level best to put the fear…Thu Oct 09 2008 - 01:00
Bertie basks as two Brians feel thoroughly scrambledDÁIL SKETCH: A PD councillor joined Fine Gael yesterdayWed Oct 08 2008 - 01:00
Gloomy Government under house arrest as Fine Gael gets toughDAIL SKETCH: Indakinny's withdrawal of pairing arrangements brought sulky Government Ministers firmly back to earthThu Sept 25 2008 - 01:00
Motivational George serves up a session of the bleedin' obviousSKETCH: Spewing weary sporting metaphors to the party members in a half-time pep talk, the radio man split for the Listowel …Fri Sept 19 2008 - 01:00
Bertie nears end of road to nowhereThe former taoiseach was calmed by the notion that his Mahon ordeal is nearly over, writes Miriam LordTue Sept 16 2008 - 01:00
Everyone pleased as punch as boxers returnFROM CHINA to Clondalkin. The buses to Boomers were lined up and ready to roll. Terrific excitementWed Aug 27 2008 - 01:00
Grudging and weary Biffo all over the placeDAIL SKETCH: There is an air of exhaustion about the placeThu Jul 10 2008 - 01:00
Rules thrown out the window as Oireachtas plays open House for weekend of family funChildren, clowns and acrobats took over from politicians on Kildare Street at the weekendMon Jun 30 2008 - 01:00
In Biffo we have the ideal man to take us through The RecessionDÁIL SKETCH: When the time comes for morale-boosting sing-songs, he'll be leading from the frontThu Jun 26 2008 - 01:00
It's not a return to the 1980s - we're up a terribly modern creekDÁIL SKETCH: LIKE OUR recent Eurovision turkey, the economy is stuffed.Wed Jun 25 2008 - 01:00
Bruton beamed in as flash mob of FG chiefs talk up treatySKETCH: FOR A political flash mob, it was quite a line-up yesterday: Enda Kenny, Garret FitzGerald, Alan Dukes, Michael Noonan…Wed Jun 11 2008 - 01:00
Poor put-upon Bertie proves there's no hard feelings, word of honourTRIBUNAL SKETCH: "COLM! COLM!" Bertie Ahern had finished another long day in the tribunal witness box and was making his way…Sat Jun 07 2008 - 01:00
Why can't these people buy houses the way normal people do?TRIBUNAL SKETCH: IT'S A game of Tribunal TwisterWed Jun 04 2008 - 01:00
Eamon steers Labour clear of the yacht clubPOTS OF tea in shopping centres are all very fine, but there'll be no hobnobbing with the Opposition in yacht clubs for the leader…Tue Jun 03 2008 - 01:00
Wounded Dermot pokes in the entrails of the Mullingar AccordDAIL SKETCH: THE GOOD news is that there are only 11 more sitting days left until the summer breakThu May 29 2008 - 01:00
