I'm out of the country for a fortnight and return to find the whole country's gone bleeding mad! Allegations against this republican and that republican. It seems that my prediction, made just after the IRA statement, of an increase in black propaganda against us was even more accurate than I'd feared. The usual suspects have obviously decided that their best hope for defeating us lies in turning us against each other. We are going to have to be resolute in our determination not to let them succeed.

On other matters, Pat Rabbitte's proposal to subject EU nationals to work permits simply defies logic (except, of course, when looked at as a cynical pre-election stunt). Anyone with a brain can see that tying workers to permits increases, rather than decreases, their exploitability and therefore makes them more, not less, attractive to unscrupulous employers. The solution to the displacement of Irish workers in favour of cheaper foreign staff is proper enforcement of the laws which make it illegal to pay foreign staff less.

Has Enda Kenny commented on this proposal? One almost wonders if he has told Rabbitte that FG intend to propose restrictions on immigration, and so Rabbitte is coming out with this stuff now so that it will look like a true Labour proposal and not one forced on them by their senior coalition partners.