Elaine Loughlin: Patrick O'Donovan phone call saga shows Simon Harris is rattled

The drip-feed of information around Patrick O'Donovan's claims of an 'ultimate betrayal' of a party colleague's anonymous remarks hint that the vital line of communication between Government and the press is broken, writes Elaine Loughlin 

Since October 13, when Patrick O'Donovan fell ill at an EU presidency event in Limerick, journalists have endeavoured to get to the bottom of the phone call, the anonymous Fine Gael comments, and all that has spiralled out from it since. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Besieged by controversy and chaos, Simon Harris heads into his party's ard fheis unable to shake what should have been a one-day embarrassment.

The curious case of a phone call made to Patrick O'Donovan after he hit out at the "ultmate betrayal" of a party colleague's anonymous remarks has escalated into a three-week drip-feed scandal.