General election has a specific imbalance

WHEN the five Bruiser Boys of Fine Gael lined up to launch the party’s election manifesto this week, there was one thing noticeably missing from the top team.

The Fine Gael women who had waved to the cameras, and huddled around Enda Kenny for the “Family Photo” just two weeks earlier, no longer took centre stage.

“We want to see as many as possible,” Kenny declared when asked about female candidates at the Sunday morning photo-op at the outset of the campaign. They were seen but not heard.