JAMIE SMYTH'Ssideways look at Election 2011
Enda’s intimate details laid bare
ENDA KENNY may be somewhat camera-shy, but his wife Fionnuala O’Kelly had no such qualms yesterday when she gave a rare insight into the private life of the man tipped to be Taoiseach.
“He’s untidy and he doesn’t realise when he comes in with mucky shoes on my lovely clean floor,” she told Newstalk reporter Henry McKean.
When he cooks: “The children go ballistic, cinderised sausages is the height of his cuisine. . . . He likes a nice rare steak, it’s hard to beat a rare steak but he loves fish as well,” said Fionnuala, who admitted she irons all his shirts. Asked if he wears Calvin Klein underpants, she replied that she thought he had one pair but she couldn’t remember the colour.
“I had to beat a quite a few girls off him myself but that was a few years ago,” she confided in an short interview in Castlebar.
She said he swears very rarely, and only if he’s telling stories and taking people off.
Fionnuala, who ironically was queen of the Fianna Fáil press office in Charles Haughey’s time, is considered a shrewd political operator. Could she be ready to make the same electoral pitch as Sarah Brown, wife of former British prime minister Gordon? Before the British general election the Guardian said “her positive profile could be the best thing Labour has got going for it with the election looming”.
Quote of the Day: Michael Noonan
"Even the dog barks at you if you say Anglo Irish Bank."
Fine Gael finance spokesman Michael Noonan reflecting voters’ anger about the cost of the bank bailout for Anglo Irish Bank.
Flash tactics as Dillon ploughs his furrow
Who says farmers are behind the curve on new technology?
Former Irish Farmers’ Association president John Dillon – the man responsible for the tractor protest in 2003 that brought Dublin to a grinding halt – is one of a handful of Independent candidates deploying electronic election posters. The flashing signs deployed on main roads in Co Limerick call on voters to “Vote Dillon number one” and use the catchy slogan “Dillon Delivers”.
But not everyone is happy with his new high-tech election posters. Limerick County Council has sent a solicitor’s letter to Dillon, asking him to take them down as they could pose a distraction to passing motorists.
Dillon’s campaign manager told Campaigntrail yesterday that the signs would stay up regardless.
“He’s a guy who doesn’t lie down,” said the manager, who conducted the entire interview on his mobile while riding his horse.
Now that’s a much more traditional way of canvassing.
Election online: the best bits from Youtube
Folk rock singer Ronan Quigley turns a satirical eye on the canvassing activities of the country’s politicians in this quirky, and a little bit disturbing, music video.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/jUNu_GMVmcY/?autoplay=1
Independent candidate for the Dublin South East constituency Mannix Flynn emulates Eminem and delivers his campaign manifesto via a gangster rap video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BlOrIGidWw