Harney has lost all the big battles, so why is she still clinging to office?

In retrospect, Harney should have gone when McCreevy did. Ahern’s decision to move the government to a populist high spending position was one that must have been alien to her instincts. It also sowed the seeds of our economic destruction, as the government’s finances became overly reliant on the transitory construction boom

MARY HARNEY has been described as a principled politician many times, and with good reason. Few of even her sternest political enemies would deny her intention to do what she sees as good, even if they would disagree fundamentally with the eventual outcome she seeks or her way of doing it.

But she is also the most pragmatic politician when it comes to hanging on to power. That’s a polite way of saying it now seems she’ll put up with almost anything as long as she keeps her job as minister.