Smith may yet be on the receiving end of a Bertie ‘special’

YOU have to hand it to Michael Smith. Where another politician might be happy to kill two birds with one stone, Michael goes for a half dozen feathered friends per pebble.

Who else could elevate a constituency rival to stardom, irritate the Minister for Health, mortify the Minister for Foreign Affairs and infuriate the Taoiseach, all in one go?

It's fair to assume that he did not intend to make Maire Hocter a star. It was the Law of Unintended Consequences snapping into action that caught him by the short and curlies on that one.