ONE of the most powerful Irish people working in Europe has said we are in danger of losing our credibility at the negotiating table if we vote no to the Lisbon treaty for a second time.

THE spindoctors timed the publication of the McCarthy report while the Dáil was in recess, hoping that holiday amnesia would lessen the impact on Lisbon II, yet seeking falsely to imply the public service is the cause the economic crisis.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen today ruled out a Donegal South West by-election at the same time as the second Lisbon Treaty referendum.

BRIAN COWEN is going nowhere. Official. It is the one thing everyone in politics agrees on — though they have polar opposite views on what it means.

Fine Gael are keen to promote their leader as a manager rather than a star performer, writes Shaun Connolly.