Is there a Monica Lewinsky at large in Leinster House? Twenty-one American interns are currently deployed among our political parties. They came in January to replace a similar number who were here from September. They gain work experience, political knowledge and college credits; our politicos get a helping hand and a research assistant.
The interns, from universities across the US, are distributed among the parties according to their Dail strength and then allocated by the whips to backbenchers. Surprisingly, not all are that keen to take them, since the interns arrive knowing little or nothing about Irish politics or our system and have to be trained in. Or is there another reason why the interns are never allocated to ministerial offices?