Irish Observer

Fianna Fáil front-benchers moved quickly this morning to put a positive spin on the matter. "I'm glad he's gone," said moustachioed Limerick Deputy Willie O'Dea.  "They way he treated the Tribunal was a disgrace. We couldn't have him associated with the party."  His rubicund front-bench colleague Brendan Smith agreed: "As our leader Micheál Martin said the other day, we're better off without anyone who bears the taint of the bad old days.  If you ask me," he added, "Bertie jumped before he was pushed." 

The Fianna Fáil leader, Mícheál Martin TD, vowed today that Bertie Ahern would be booted out of the party - along with all of the "cronies and henchman" who sustained him in power over two decades. Ahern was the subject of damning criticism by the Mahon tribunal, which found him guilty of repeated "untruths" and noted that his cabinet had set out to undermine the tribunal itself. Martin said he found the orchestrated sniping at the tribunal to be, if anything, even worse than the bare-faced untruths. "I won't rest until every man jack of them is rooted out of our party," he vowed, referring to those who sat smugly in cabinet alongside Bertie. "Nothing less is acceptable if we are to make a clean sweep and a fresh start in Fianna Fáil."

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan last night threw down the gauntlet to his ECB tormenters. "We're going to get a deal on those promissory notes," he told the Dail. "I'm almost certain of it." Insiders admitted that Noonan was on rather shaky ground. "We haven't heard a dicky bird from the ECB about any deal," said one source. "Truth be told, they've as much as told us to feck off. Several times now." Asked what Minister Noonan was playing at, the insider remarked that the canny Limerick man seemed to be playing a high-stakes poker game. "Effectively, he's got everybody's hopes up. The eurocrats can hardly say no without making him, and the entire Irish government, look very silly." A ballsy move by the Baldy one. We'll keep you posted.