One of the more substantial achievements of this government has been to burnish the reputation of Fianna Fáil which, we had believed, had been consigned to well-deserved oblivion by the outcome of the 2011 election. By Vincent Browne.

As the coalition resolutely persists in its ineptitude, Fianna Fáil doesn't seem that bad in retrospect.

A disapproval rating of 73% for the Government is fairly decisive. A rating (voting intentions) of 21% for Fianna Fáil is not at all decisive, but it is a significant improvement on the party's election showing (17%).

Micheál Martin is the most impressive party leader, and several of the spokesmen are capable, including Billy Kelleher, Michael McGrath, Neil Collins, Sean O'Fearghail, Willie O'Dea and Sean Fleming.

Research conducted by the office of TD Catherine Murphy shows that Ireland’s system of financial allowances to TDs unfairly discriminates against Independent and non-party affiliated TDs. (PDF here)

The claim that Enda Kenny and his governemnt have inspired some kind of recovery is just plain wrong. By Vincent Browne.

The cover story in the European edition of Time magazine on Ireland's "Celtic comeback" pioneered by Enda Kenny was a public relations triumph, for which Kenny himself deserves credit.

Time enthused: "Kenny inherited a kingdom of derelict developments (because of the reckless policies of its predecessors in government). Credit, until recently too easily available, had dried. Scores of the country's brightest youths were voting with their feet, leaving at rates last recorded during the Great Famine in the 19th century.

"Kenny has not yet staunched that desperate outflow, and despite the exodus, unemployment has risen to 14.8%. Yet, on several other measures, his country's turnaround looks compelling."

The Labour Party didn't vote against the 2008 Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Bill, which legislated for the bank guarantee, because it opposed the guarantee or even its scope. By Vincent Browne.

Four years ago this month, the Dáil debated and then endorsed the bank guarantee scheme, which has cost this society at least €64 billion.

The current government is spending a large part of its time trying to persuade our EU partners to help us undo the damage the guarantee did to us.

Yet, back in October 2008, all the major parties - including the Labour Party - accepted the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government guarantee. A lot of what was said then seems very silly now, although there were a few with prescience and reserve.

When it's eventually all over, of what exactly will Labour's leading lights be proud? By Vincent Browne.

Eamon Gilmore's excruciation during his interview on 27 September with Richard Crowley of RTÉ betrayed a realisation that his failure to stand by Róisín Shortall was not just an act of personal disloyalty, but of disloyalty to what Labour supposedly stands for, and of disloyalty to the constituency which the party supposedly represents.

Not much will occur by way of reaction to this in the next while, but Gilmore has burned his boats of refuge when, inevitably, the reckoning occurs.

This was not just a row between two ministers who could not stand each other on a personal level. The cleavage between Shortall and James Reilly was deeply political.

In a leaked email to Labour Party colleagues, Party Chairman and Galway East TD Colm Keaveney said "there is another context to the [Roisin Shorthall] story that [Eamon Gilmore] has not been able to publicly articulate, given the media atmosphere at this time". Keaveney wrote that this context "needs to be discussed with the party's members" and that he is "working with the Party Leader on convening a meeting of the Central Council for early November". The email, leaked to RTE is below. 

How the Government handles the James Reilly affair will be a litmus test of its promise to break from the corruption and dishonesty of Fianna Fail. By Eoin Ó Broin.

The James Reilly affair is nowhere near from over. Róisín Shortall may have gone, but big questions remain. How they are answered will have significant consequences for the Government, the two men at its helm and the parties they lead.

James Reilly has yet to provide a credible explanation for the addition of locations in his own constituency to the primary care centre priority list. Paul Cullen’s article in last Saturday’s Irish Times clearly demonstrates that Minister Reilly’s explanations to date simply don’t stack up.

Róisín Shortall’s matter-of-fact description of the decision as ‘stroke politics’ on RTÉ radio last Saturday demands a response from Minister Reilly. Ministers Varadkar and Creighton clearly concur, as do Labour party backbenchers such as Arthur Spring.

If Roisín Shortall stands her ground it will create a political problem for Labour of far greater significance than the issues relating to health service reform. By Eoin Ó Broin.

The very public row between Minister for Health James Reilly and Minister of State with responsibility for Primary Care Roisín Shortall is about more than personalities. It is also about more than decision-making processes and policy choices within the Department of Health.

At the heart of the conflict lies a contradiction that runs not only though the Department of Health but the Programme for Government and the Labour Fine Gael coalition. While Minister Shortall is likely to be the first casualty of this contradiction, the Labour Party and even the Government could become its ultimate victims.

The Programme for Government agreed between Fine Gael and Labour in March 2011 had two defining features. On the one hand the Programme accepted the macro economic and fiscal framework of the outgoing government as outlined in both the National Recovery Programme and the Troika Memorandum of Understanding. On the other hand the Programme committed the coalition to a series of far-reaching political and public service reforms. Nowhere was the promise of reform more ambitious than in the area of health.