The politicians who thrived this term, and the ones who had a nightmare · The Candidate · The Journal
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23 Jul 2026
The politicians who thrived this term, and the ones who had a nightmare
The Dáil has risen, Leinster House is quiet, and TDs are all off doing constituency work (as they tell us every year), so it’s time for our political awards. Christine Bohan, Jane Matthews and Sinéad O’Carroll analyse Christina Finn’s report card naming the winners and losers of the term just gone: why Jennifer Carroll MacNeill won the term by picking fights with everyone from the Rotunda to BAM, whether Jim O’Callaghan really belongs on the losers’ list, and how Holly Cairns turned the Social Democrats into the party with a buzz about them.
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