PHANTOMS and faint hearts dominated another week when Ireland’s political leaders left reality behind them. Taoiseach Enda Kenny had one of his conveniently frequent encounters with a nameless soul who just happened to present him with the perfect political metaphor to justify his unpopular policies.

It's high time for Fianna Fáil to do some soul-searching as they assess what went wrong in the recent elections, writes Political Editor Harry McGee.