On the 50th anniversary of Jack Lynch’s election as Taoiseach , Ryle Dwyer looks back on the occasion, when the Corkman had to be persuaded to let his name go forward

Your letters, your view

There is one serious flaw with the defensive-based running game which has been slavishly adopted by virtually every team in the country.

Unlike many other recent political memoirs, this book pulls few punches and is an authentic transcription of the acuity, caustic manners and occasional bias of the man, writes Gerard Howlin

IRFU WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP POOL B:

THE routine for writing this column has remained largely unchanged for the past decade.

A CAR dealer charged with evading tax on luxury cars told gardaí he never induced a tax official to falsely process VRT applications for his benefit.

GALWAY’S minor hurlers blitzed Antrim with three goals in less than five minutes during the opening half of this lopsided All-Ireland quarter-final at Parnell Park on Saturday.

“WHO are these people?”

Double Crossed: IT’S not like Dick Roche to second guess a member of the public trying to have their say.

Fianna Fáil's Niall Blaney has become the latest TD to announce that he will not contest the General Election.

LEADING political analyst Sean Donnelly has predicted Fianna Fáil could lose all seats in the two Co Donegal constituencies, including Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s.

SARACENS kept the pressure on the Aviva Premiership leaders yesterday, inflicting another defeat on struggling London Irish.

THE sensational decision by former minister Jim McDaid to end his political career with a short letter to the Dáil has flummoxed his political peers.

THE exit of Jim McDaid was in keeping with his career, his public persona and his political path. It left a bitter taste.

A COLLEAGUE who sat in on the 1991 All-Star selection meeting was amused by the Northern lobby’s capacity to find ever more important bodily parts, organs, and constituents to equate with members of the Down team, which had just won the All-Ireland.

DOWN forward Danny Hughes is refusing to contemplate the possibility that next Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final is a ‘now or never’ moment for the older members on the county panel.

THOSE who saw his performance that day will never forget it. The game itself is considered a classic. Many who were in Coalisland that afternoon would point to the 1989 MacRory Cup final between St Patrick’s Maghera and St Colman’s Newry as the best they ever witnessed.

London Irish have announced the signing of hooker Brian Blaney from last season’s Heineken Cup winners Leinster.

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan today announced the appointment of Mr Garrett Blaney to the Commission for Energy Regulation, joining Michael Tutty (chairperson) and Dermot Nolan.

THE looming battle to get the budget through the Dáil became even more daunting for Brian Cowen last night as his knife-edge majority was shaken further.

Fianna Fáil was tonight making frantic efforts to mend a damaging rift with renegade ex-minister Jim McDaid after he withdrew his support for the Government.

Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal North East Niall Blaney is seeking a meeting with his constituency colleague Jim McDaid who withdrew his support for the Government today.

AN anonymous blogger impersonating English solicitor Donal Blaney on Twitter has complied with an injunction issued via the micro-blog platform.

Burnt Northern sterling was found after a chimney fire in Passage West, Co Cork, prompting a follow-up search where live ammunition for a Kalashnikov assault rifle was found and today the householder was jailed for two years.

A return to terrorism in the North will never be tolerated, British and Irish politicians vowed today.

A major security operation is moving into place to protect dozens of senior British and Irish politicians meeting at a lakeside hotel in Co Donegal next week.

THE Magners League came down to a two-horse race as defending champions Leinster overtook Munster with a gutsy second-half display against the Ospreys.

THE lowest point in Leinster’s season came in Castres before Christmas when they lost a game they ought to have won. Coincidence or not, they have won three games since they could just as easily have lost.

FORMER Taoiseach Jack Lynch was, as this newspaper editorialised upon his death, “a charismatic leader, political icon and statesman”.

Leinster captain Brian O'Driscoll has been passed fit for their Heineken Cup game against Castres tonight.

THERE are reasons to believe that Castres might offer limited opposition in Friday’s return Heineken Cup clash at Stade Pierre-Antoine, but don’t say that within earshot of Leinster coach Michael Cheika.

THE sight of French opposition this week is likely to spark one or two conflicting memories for Brian Blaney as Castres arrive in Dublin to take on Leinster in Pool Two.

A JURY of 10 women and two men returned a guilty verdict on the fifth day of the trial of a man accused of having 220 live bullets in a lunchbox in his house three years ago.

A jury of ten women and two men returned a guilty verdict on the fifth day of the trial of a man accused of having 220 live bullets in a lunchbox in his house three years ago.

HEINEKEN Cup winner Anthony Horgan and hooker Denis Fogarty struck for two tries apiece in the Munster reserve side’s resounding win over their Leinster equivalents at Donnybrook yesterday.

A THIRD man has been charged in connection with the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery.

Irish boxers claimed one silver and three bronze medals at the Junior Multi Nations in Baku Azerbaijan.

BERNARD JACKMAN insists the appointment of Munster coach Declan Kidney as Ireland coach was a “no-brainer”.

A financial adviser was freed on bail tonight after being charged over an alleged IRA money laundering ring set up after the notorious £26.5m (€34bn) Northern Bank robbery.

THANKS to the vagaries of the rugby calendar, one man’s promotion to the national side can leave his club shirt more exposed, which is exactly the case as Brian Blaney fills in for Bernard Jackman as Leinster’s hooker this week.

Brian O'Driscoll will make his 50th Heineken Cup appearance for Leinster and will captain the side to face Toulouse tomorrow.

Leinster A 51 Ireland U-20 15