McDowell electoral hopes up in smoke?

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, we were told this week, had depicted himself as the ‘Messiah of Dublin South East’ who had engaged in the “final betrayal”.

But no, it was not a fellow PD talking about his apparent attempt to challenge Mary Harney for the party leadership.

Instead, it was Fine Gael’s young pretender, Lucinda Creighton, who will run for a Dáil seat in Mr McDowell’s constituency at the next election.