Woods fights the flak again

SHOULD Michael Woods ever return to the front bench, the Department of Defence might be the natural posting for him.

The past few days have seen him mount a dogged defensive action that would do the armed forces proud But the front on which he currently fights for his political and personal credibility is likely to be the only one he sees in future. After the ructions of recent days, he is unlikely to rise from the backbenches again.

That he didn't even make it into a junior ministry after last years's general election was a blow to the Dublin North East TD who had vacated the high-profile education portfolio going into polling day.