"Welcome" and "Good Luck" to Pat Rabbitte in his new position as leader of this States 'Labour Party' and Liz McManus as deputy leader. Pat and Liz were both members of the so-called 'Workers Party' which went into Leinster House in the early 1980's to "change the system" ; however,as human nature dictates, the system changed them ,much to the annoyance of their membership who cried foul and insisted that their elected representatives return to basics-- the elected suits,however, having tasted the gravy,wanted to stay on the train and a split developed--and 'Democratic Left' was hatched,only to be run-over by 'Labour' as it tried to cross the road! Paddy Rabbitte has a reputation as a " wit" in Leinster House and will now surely be laughing all the way to the bank.... And what to make of the new 'grouping' in Leinster House-the 'Technical Group'-formed specifically to outnumber Paddys Party (Labour) in that institution ; the Provos instigated the formation of that coalition Group and were happy to invite,amongst others, Michael Lowry (ex-Fine Gael,now Indp)to join,as they needed his support. The bould Michael L has been involved with three tribunals (Buchanan , McCracken and Moriarty) looking into "financial irregularities" in this little State -and no , he was'nt on the judging panel! What a tangled web we weave........ (Comment?-johnhoranrsf@eircom.net)