I ran against Chris Andrews in 1999, and found him to be a warm and decent guy who I can only imagine must be mortified at where his actions have led him. But what fascinates me more about this whole affair is the background to it, which seems to be a tale of FFers squabbling over the party and where it is going and going to extraordinary lengths to shaft each other now utilising electronic surveillance equipment and stakeouts. Seriously?
Put aside the whole Spooks aspect of this and Chris Andrews as a person and look at what it is really about. Despite its historic defeat in the last general election, Fianna Fail still has not developed an ability to openly and publicly debate its past mistakes and future direction, instead engaging in faceless sniping online. Open criticism of the party’s actions and players within the party is still regarded as treachery. Large numbers of Fianna Fail activists still seem to believe that the future of the party is a private affair to be discussed in huddled corners and certainly not in public. Yet they are wrong. Fianna Fail is not a golf club. It’s a political party aspiring to lead our country and if those activists believe that the future of that party is not the voters business, let them say that to their voters.

Just on the off chance that you get tired of my tiresome repetitive whining (imagine that) I’m throwing out an appeal to readers who may like to submit a guest blog.

Here’s the rules:

1. Length as suits, but I suggest around 600-800 words as a rough rule of thumb. And no, you won’t get paid.
2. Don’t get me sued. No libel. And no racist stuff either.
3. You don’t have to agree with me. I’m a liberal centre right pro-European. You can be a high taxing leftie or a Eurosceptic social conservative. Of course, if I disagree with your piece I will reply, but would you expect any different?
4. In particular, I’d love to hear from FF/FG people on what values actually separate their two respective parties, as I’m one of those annoying people who thinks there aren’t any. Please do not send a party puff piece though, because nobody ever finishes reading them.
5. Send a jpg and a short bio too. Is it worth your while? The blog gets a very modest 12,000 – 15,000 visits a month (outside of election and referendum periods), but the great majority seem to be involved in politics and the media, certainly going by my email and Twitter followers. Bizarrely, 10% of my readers seem to live in Belgium. Imagine that.