A SURE sign that Tony O’Reilly is no longer in control of Independent News & Media was provided by the way the newspaper giant closed down its Sunday Tribune title.

If Fine Gael is to form a single-party government, for the first time, it is going to have to continue to grab even more undecided voters; yet it is possible that it will get its overall majority without matching the 41% first share of votes that left Fianna Fáil short of an overall majority last time around.

HERE are some of my random thoughts about the general election campaign to date. Significance is not indicated by their order:

THE general election campaign to date has created almost as much noise about who isn’t standing as it has about those who are seeking the endorsement of voters.

Do you seriously think that any of the party leaders is going to inspire us?

THE arrival of Shane Ross, journalist, author and senator, into the general election campaign, seeking a Dáil seat in George Lee’s old constituency of Dublin South, is not just significant in itself: it could lead to other similarly minded individuals pitching themselves to the electorate, offering themselves as new legislators to add to the public voices they already use.

IN justifying his decision in 2007 to enter government Green Party leader John Gormley cited advice given to him during coalition negotiations by Mary Harney, a woman who at that stage had been a senior minister for 10 years (and who had been a junior minister earlier in her career).

TWO men sitting in a bar, each drinking a pint. The first man’s glass is half-full. The second man’s is half-empty. Here is their conversation.

GOVERNMENT minister Pat Carey believes that a person should tell his or her employer if they believe that a colleague’s lifestyle, health or work performance is unduly influenced by the excessive consumption of alcohol or any intake of illegal drugs.