THE living space at this Longueville, Mallow home is first class in more ways than one — it was originally the ‘First’ classroom in a two-room school, built about 1890.

BRIAN LENIHAN was a chip off the old block. His father, Brian Snr, also enjoyed a distinguished career as a parliamentarian and government minister. Both were barristers, and both fought general elections in the throes of serious illness. Both died young, taken while still in public service.

IN between all the empty debate and petty disputes and rows and static and scandal and point-scoring and personality disputes and constituency infighting, you get rare reminders politics can still concern itself with — to paraphrase Otto von Bismarck — the art of the possible.

Charles J Haughey’s political career stuttered at first with an embarrassing defeat in a by-election in the 1950s.

For too long there was a misguided culture of understanding tolerance in our society towards driving under the influence of alcohol.

Joe Walsh survived a decade of CAP reforms and foot-and-mouth, writes Agribusiness Correspondent Ray Ryan.