The voice at the other end of the phone asked if she had a moment and the man said he was ringing on behalf of Raymond O'Malley who is running for the controversial - and it seems unpopular - Libertas group.

She explained that she had a man running herself, but didn't actually say that her son was a candidate. She laughed at the good of it and thought it was strange that she should receive an unsolicited phone call from the Libertas group.

However, it does make sense if you think about it. Raymond O'Malley is a former deputy leader of the country's largest farming organisation - The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) - and it seems that the Libertas group are ringing around IFA members on behalf of Mr O'Malley.

Cute but not cute enough to fool a strong-minded south Kilkenny woman whose son is actually running for Fine Gael in the same election.

I would wager that the people in the IFA won't be too happy to hear that news, but the IFA has a long history of former big-wigs in the organisation going into politics.

Just look at Alan Gillis (former MEP) who was president of the IFA and Tom Parlon, (former PD TD and junior minister) also a former leader of the organisation and currently boss of the Con-struction Industry Feder-ation.

Martin Brett

Have to hand it to Martin Brett, the Fine Gael candidate for the Borough and County Council elections in the city. He has been taken aback by the number of people asking him on the doorstep about the lack of a university in the South East and the ongoing attempts to get recognition for Water-ford IT as single entity or for Carlow IT or for a main campus for one of the Dublin-based universities in Kilkenny or elsewhere. The South East, and Kilkenny in particular, has one of the lowest rates of third-level education take-up for young people anywhere in Ireland.

Cllr Brett seems to think that it is partly because of financial reasons. He has been told that a number of Kilkenny youngsters have dropped out for various reasons, but the over-riding factor seems to be financial.

This never-ending debate about giving the South East a university has been going on long enough and it should be brought to fruition now. Make a decision one way or another and let people react to that news and see if there is any real thing as people power if the decision is a negative one.

Cllr Brett has made it a commitment to help try to expand The outreach campus at St Kieran's College, which is run in conjunction with NUI Maynooth or to seek approval for Carlow IT or WIT for a new university.

Wizard of Oz

Insider wants to lift the gloom and the best way of doing so is by making fun of our politicians.

So what if they were to be a remake of the musical The Wizard of Oz. The lead role of Dorothy could be played by sacked junior minister, trying to find his way home,. Big Mac (John McGuinness TD).

The part of the Wicked Witch of the West would have to go to Tánaiste Mary Coughlan for being mean to Deputy John McGuinness. The Lion man part would be taken by Jackie Healy-Rae and the Good Witch of the North has to go to north Kilkenny councillor Mary Hilda Cavanagh.
We have ideas who should play the munchkins, but the law does not allow us to say who should.

Have an idea who should play Toto the dog, belonging to Dorothy, but asking a human to play an animal might not go down so well with the politician involved, so we'll leave that one alone as well.

Far fetched?

Does this sounds far-fetched... After the collapse of the Fianna Fáil vote in the local and European elections, Brian Cowen, our illustrious leader will lose the support of his parliamentary party. Eventually he will have to go to the President, Mary Mac, the dentists's wife, to extract the Dáil.

However, she can say no and ask the Dáil members to form an alternative government and that's when Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens will form a new government. Sounds far-fetched, but not when the real debts incurred by our arrogant financial institutions become apparent and how those in power knew this and kept it from us.

Fair dues to Big Mac

Fair dues to John McGuinness for promising to share his f54,000 severance package for being junior minister for trade for two years with the two drivers and two office staff that lost their jobs when he was relieved of his duties (for no good reason by Taoiseach Brian Cowen). There aren't too many that would do it.

Don't deface election posters

Insider is asking all self-respecting people in Kilkenny not to attempt to deface any poster of any of the candidates in the up-coming Council or Euro-pean elections. It's mean and it tends to ridicule the people involved and makes them a little plainer-looking than they are.
Those with posters thought to be most at risk are those depicting those with baldy heads which rules out the female candidates and those with long noses which also excludes the ladies.

Mary Mac in city

Insider saw President Mary MacAleese in the city last week with husband Martin attending the Irish Dental Association's annual conference. She danced the night away in a city hotel and for once there were no photographers to catch her moves.

Risk of suicide - Does anyone in politics care?

Suicide and the risk of it is not really being tackled by any political party. There are more and more people in despair and yet no one outside of the great Dan Neville TD in Limerick seems to raise it in Dáil Eireann. They spend a fortune on road safety and rightly so, making sure less people die on our roads so why can't we do the same for those who are likely to crash in another way?


Liam Aylward - Fighting for his political life

Liam Aylward will be Fianna Fáil's only candidate in the East constituency in the European Parliament elections on June 5. The sitting MEP has been hard done by the party he has served.
If his first preference vote mirrors that of Fianna Fáil in national opinion polls at 23%, he could be left high and dry because he has nowhere to get transfers from. So, he could receive a good-sized first preference vote and watch as other candidates push past him thanks to transfers.

He received 15% of the vote in 2004, or 68,207 votes. His party colleague, Seamus Kirk received 45,500 or 10% and it was his transfers which got him over there line. Labour's Liam Cassells received 59,000 first preferences and if Labour's candidate this time around, Nessa Childers can increase on that she could topple Lam. Problem is, Aylward is a superior candidate and Insider feels that Childers hasn't his depth and also has a problem having been Fianna Fáil and Green Party before turning Red.

Aylward also has to contend with two other Kilkenny candidates - Sen John Paul Phelan (FG) and Kathleen Funchion (SF). He is fighting for his political life this time around and that's the message he has to get pout before June 5.

Joey and Dixie

Only two candidates attended the launch of Thom-astown man, Michael Hold-en's excellent book launch in the Longman, Kilfane on Wednesday night of last week. They were Dixie Doyle (Independent) and Joey O'Hanrahan of Fine Gael. The book, Freney The Robber is a must read and available in all good bookshops.
Liam Walsh was on to point out that the late and great Mick McGuinness was never elected as an Independent to Kilkenny Corporation. Thanks for that, Liam.