Irish Labour leader Eamon Gilmore - ahead of FF in the polls for the first time ever.
Seán Lemass famously described Ireland's 'natural party of government', Fianna Fáil, as the 'slightly constitutional party'. As a one-line explanation, it's hard to beat. Here, Conor Ryan comments on the news that - for the first time ever - The Labour Party is ahead of FF in the opinion polls.
Historically, FF are, in Conor's words, "a bit dodgy." But this reverse appears to be down to their handling of the economic crisis - a situation that isn't helped by noises off from Bertie Ahern - the occassional suggsestion that it's taking an awful long time to get this oul' recession sorted out (and the fact that the approach that they are adopting is somewhat similar to that advocated by the Conservatives in the UK).
The most damning suggestion, though, comes from 'The Irish Eagle': That, unlike other struggling finance ministers, Brian Lenihan has not just fumbled the ball at an awkward time - he's actually made particularly careless judgements at crucial times during this crisis.
About the author: Paul is a London-based blogger with a mixed track-record over at Never Trust a Hippy and a few other places. He usually writes about representative democracy and decentralisation. Follow him at www.twitter.com/paul0evans if you usually do that kind of thing. Read more from this author