| All four Irish political parties – as well as taoiseach Enda Kenny – and celebrities including Colin Farrell, Bono, Saoirse Ronan and Graham Norton have come out in favour of gay marriage. |
| Hanging blame for the Northern Bank raid around the necks of the Sinn Fein leadership has clear political advantages for the taoiseach. |
| What makes the verbal sortie on the Vatican so groundbreaking however is that it is a Fine Gael taoiseach, whose political base lies in the conservative west of Ireland, who has led from the front. |
| The problem for the taoiseach is that he is increasingly being called on to defend his administration as the GUBUs loom before it. |
| However, the former taoiseach was always concerned about not alienating the unionist population of Northern Ireland. |
| In 1965 Mr Paisley infamously pelted Sean Lamass, one of Mr Ahern's predecessors as taoiseach, with snowballs when he visited Stormont in an attempt to improve relations between the republic and Northern Ireland. |
