Compiled by MARIE O'HALLORAN
Singing Senator seeks cousin's popularity
Susan Boyle may have come second in the hit TV show
Britain's Got Talentafter a gruelling brush with celebrity, but her Irish politician cousin is very impressed.
Senator Dan Boyle, the Green party's candidate in the European election South constituency is a second cousin of the singing sensation.
"She did very well and acquitted herself well," he says of the relative he has never met, and whom he reckons will be busy with a lucrative singing career well into the future.
His father confirmed for him that he (Boyle snr) and Susans father were first cousins. He hadn't known of her but then, the American-born Corkman says he has a huge number of relatives.
"If I get a fraction of the votes she got, I'll be very happy," he says.
As for his own musical endeavours, no Green party conference is ever complete without a singing Dan Boyle on piano or guitar. The Green party's finance spokesman had his own brush with musical celebrity in RTÉ's
Celebrity You're a Star.
Quotes
"People want to see a general election and they believe that June 5th can build momentum towards making that happen. It is clear that there will be strong transfers among the anti-Government parties and Independents."
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams
"The voters in the local, European and byelections on Friday should not allow themselves to be fooled by parties who do not have the country's interests at heart and whose naked political cynicism is being exposed by their own words day by day."
Minister of State Dara Calleary on Fine Gael and Labour's differing views on Nama
Don Baker plays for Joe
Speaking of celebrities. Dublin Euro Socialist Party candidate Joe Higgins has won the endorsement of singer and musician Don Baker who did a fundraising gig in O’Shea’s hotel on Talbot Street, Dublin yesterday afternoon.
Tickets for the celebrated harmonica player’s gig, were priced at €10, but the Socialist Party candidate’s website politely proclaimed – “extra donations welcome”.
Mannix Flynn, running as an Independent in the Pembroke ward for Dublin city council, got the imprimatur of actor Gabriel Byrne, who pulled the candidate’s campaign leaflet from his pocket and gave him an emotional and ringing endorsement during his Late Late Show appearance on Friday.
Ryan pulls a smart one
As an eye-catching exercise in advertising, Fianna Fáil Dublin MEP Eoin Ryan has pulled a smart one.
Zipping through Dublin city centre traffic yesterday in convoy were three carbon-friendly Smart cars, each pulling a stand behind it with a large poster of the candidate. Was he demonstrating environmentally-friendly credentials?
In a similar vein, Green Ministers Eamon Ryan and John Gormley were promoting Dublin candidate Deirdre de Burca as they sat in a green-coloured eco vehicle. Their green claims are much more ambitious.
A press release proclaims “10,000 jobs created in the last three months were green” – in the green economy. It’s certainly an eye-catching number.
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