One of the great behind-the-scenes powers

As a general rule those who inhabit the backrooms of Irish politics are anonymous souls. There are those who have come out of the shade to become public figures, through either standing for election or selling their, generally dubious, credentials as experts to whoever will agree to give them space – but very few ever get noticed while actually working in the backroom.

Back in the 1980s Fine Gael had the ‘National Handlers', ...