McDowell throws toys out of the pram!

Perhaps the only thing left to admire about Michael McDowell is his brass neck.

In the past week PD party president Tom Parlon has accused Fine Gael of being behind the tribunal leaks to media, citing Enda Kenny as the author of a diabolical plot due to climax on day 21 of the election campaign.

There was not a word of censure, regret or retraction from PD party leader Michael McDowell on that very paranoid interpretation of events. But when Enda Kenny points the finger at McDowell himself as the likely leaker, the toys go straight out of the pram and the charge is deemed to be "beneath contempt".

As serving Minister for Justice, McDowell personally leaked confidential Garda files to a pet journalist in pursuit of his own political objectives. Indeed, he has stooped to the use of damaging innuendo on the basis that "I know what I know". He therefore has a history of engaging in this type of "dirty tricks" activity.

Like all bullies, he can hand it out but he can't take it.

Footnote: Published as a letter in the Irish Times & the Irish Examiner