VINCENT BROWNE seems to become more cynical about politics in general and Fianna Fáil in particular every night on his RTÉ radio programme. Of course, he was one of the first people to write about Tom Gilmartin’s allegations back in September 1998.

BY pleading the poor mouth before completing his second term as President in 1973, Eamon de Valera had his pension increased by a fraction over 475%.

ONE of the more surprising features of the newly-released State papers was the eagerness of British Prime Minister Ted Heath to establish a power-sharing executive in the North with an all-Irish dimension.

LAST week Bertie Ahern was in the news over a representation made by his office on behalf of a quarry owner suffering from cancer. One of Bertie’s staff wrote a letter to a council official pleading that the quarry should not be shut down, because the owner is in ill health.

PETER CORY, the Canadian judge who was appointed to investigate suspected police collusion in eight murders in both the North and Republic, has produced his reports.

THE most disconcerting aspect of the Barron Report into the investigation of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974 was the discovery that material has gone missing from the files of the Department of Justice.

By Ryle Dwyer FIANNA FÁIL promised that, if they were returned to power, only 20% of workers would be paying the highest rate of tax.

ONLY time will tell if this week’s elections will mark a watershed in Northern politics. It looks like the Democratic Unionists will be the biggest party in the new Assembly, with the right of selecting the First Minister.