The Front Pages
The broadsheets are interested in only one thing this Sunday morning – the future of Fine Gael leader Enda Kenna, who could be ousted early this week following the latest damaging opinion poll.
“FG revolt as knives come out for Kenny†– Sunday Independent
“FG rebels may trigger heave against Kenny†– Sunday Tribune
“Kenny faces leadership challenge†– Sunday Times
The revolt has been sparked by Friday’s Irish Times/Ipsos/MRBI poll which showed that Fine Gael had fallen behind Labour in the views of the public.
Enda Kenny is “facing into arguably the most important week of his leadership of Fine Gaelâ€, says the Tribune. The Sindo quotes one unnamed “frontbench TD†as saying, “Fianna Fáil has shed 25 points and clearly we haven’t picked up one of them.â€
Kenny’s chances of survival are rated “50-50 or worse†by one of the Tribune’s sources and the game could be up within 48 hours, with Richard Bruton, who has been conspicuous by his silence in recent days, set to assume the leadership as soon as he declares an interest in it.
The Independent has another front-page story which caught the eye: “‘La Dolce Vita’ is over, warns Namaâ€.
Apparently seven out of the first ten business plans furnished to Nama by major developers have been rejected by Nama, with concerns focusing on the level of “management fees†included. These fees, the report claims, would include direct payments to the developers, many of which would go towards financing the lifestyle to which they became accustomed during the boom.
One developer who has downsized the high life is Paddy Kelly, who has “moved out of his mansion in Dublin’s Shrewsbury Road to a more modest address in the capital in the hope of obtaining financial support from Namaâ€.
There’s an interesting twist to the Rachel Corrie story according to the Tribune, who have an interview with the vessel’s first mate Derek Graham. He alleges that during his time in Israeli custody he was shown “photographs of several members of the group clearly taken in Irelandâ€, effectively meaning that Mossad or other Israeli agents are currently operational within our borders.
