Really good piece in the Indo today about the bye election, available HERE

Think it is a fair piece and I enjoy the image of me as an altar boy selling a story of fiscal discipline.

Just did Saturday View and then a press conference with George Lee, Richard Bruton and Brian Hayes. Busy day and off canvassing now. My God, it’s getting hot though.

During the week I called at a home that turned out to be a centre for people who would otherwise be homeless or in hostels. They asked that I called back again to meet with all of the residents. I did that last night.

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Derek and I met commuters at Ashtown train station this morning. It was freezing and wet. The canal and the adjacent buildings managed to create a perfect wind tunnel that we were the recipients of. Then one of the posters flew off our A frames in front of tons of commuters. Perfect. Just perfect. Read More…

Fine Gael Dublin Central Bye-election Candidate Senator Paschal Donohoe has said a new report which revealed that large areas of the constituency have seen almost no improvement is a damning indictment of 12 years of Fianna Fáil Government. Read More…

A report due to be published today by the Dublin Inner City Partnership shows how much work still needs to be done to deal with poverty in inner city Dublin. A brief summary of the report is available HERE.

It shows, beyond any doubt, that the recent economic growth passed too many people by. These are the same people who today are now losing Christmas bonuses along with child-care payments and are been hit the most by rising unemployment. How we do more to help is obviously a vital and very difficult question. Given that the state will be playing a larger role in the economy in the coming years, and given that this will be underpinned by a far stronger political consensus, it appears to me that there is a golden opportunity to do more and make this help even more effective.