Elaine Byrne: The political big beast whose instincts failed him
Phil Hogan was peerless in understanding how the court of public opinion worked but it was his failure to understand that ultimately Ursula von der Leyen was his boss which proved his undoing
Local Fine Gael meetings used to be held in our living-room. The men, mostly small farmers, would come into our pub, and when my brothers and sisters and I had gone to bed, they would start talking. Our living room was beside the kitchen, and beside that was the store where the grain for the cattle and sheep was kept. It was also where the bodies were prepared for the funerals in our undertaking business.
