Senator’s bad news comes in threes

SHE would be just another nobody senator if it were not for Fidelma Healy Eames’ amazing ability to generate the worst sort of publicity via trains, drains, and automobiles.

From anonymous upper house Fine Gael politician to down-market media sensation in the space of a few weeks — it has been quite a whirlwind rise to notoriety.

Thanks to a court battle over her jumbo jacuzzi, an on-the-spot €100 fine for not buying her train ticket, and the humiliation of having her Mercedes towed away due to another non-payment — this time road tax — Ms Healy Eames has become the most high-profile member of the Seanad for all the wrong reasons.