The Front Pages
It’s another disappointing Sunday for Fine Gael as two of the main broadsheets lead with stories attempting to damage the credibility of Inda Kinny’s party.
Under a front-page lead of “FG taps ‘Nama 10’ developer for moneyâ€, the Sunday Independent tells us that the opposition party sought and accepted cash from one of the country’s most indebted property companies, the debts of which have been taken under the Nama umbrella.
Michael O’Flynn, Managing Director of O’Flynn Construction, provided €1500 in sponsorship money for a four-ball at the K Club resort in Co Kildare as well as an additional sum to sponsor the 18th hole for the fundraising golf classic. O’Flynn Construction, the paper informs us, recently transferred debts of approximately €1bn into the National Asset Management Agency.
The Sunday Tribune, meanwhile, goes with a revelatory “Five days that expose the myth of FG unityâ€, pointing to three incidents over the past week which suggest that all is definitely not well in the party following the quelling of the recent leadership heave against Kinny.
John Deasy, the outspoken Waterford TD, said that it was “untrue†that the party was united, there was criticism from finance spokesman Michael Noonan of party policy and a social get-together of Fine Gael senators was described as “difficultâ€.
The paper quotes a senior Fine Gael TD as saying, “Of course there is division … the party is split down the middle,†although anonymous sources always detract from a story’s credibility.
Over in the Sunday Times, the focus is on Fianna Fail and an appearance by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan on the Sunday with Sam Smyth current affairs radio show on Today FM this morning.
The paper has apparently gained transcripts of the interview, in which Lenihan “hits at department under Cowenâ€. One would imagine that the Department of Finance was surely the most important government department as the country slipped into serious economic problems three years ago. Not so, according to Lenihan, who apparently suggests that the department lost power and influence at that time, when current Taoiseach Cowen occupied the role of Minister and Bertie Ahern still led the Government.
All of which suggests that this morning’s radio interview, which airs between 11am and 1pm, will be damaging to Cowen, so it should make for interesting listening.
