Atop a grassy knoll, Gilmore hits nothing but his foot

FEAR and loathing continues to dominate Fine Gael and Labour’s pre-budget bust-ups.

It was fitting that on the anniversary of the assignation of JFK, conspiracy theories rebounded around the Dáil as to why Labour, in particular, had lost so much control of the message.

Instead of a grassy knoll, Eamon Gilmore was painted as being trapped in a self-dug hole — a lone gunman shooting himself in the foot after his election pledge to protect child benefit at all costs.