Sunday Tribune
The Trib leads with a story by Shane Coleman and Conor McMorrow that claims Brian Cowen will wait to reshuffle his cabinet until after Easter.
The Taoiseach is believed to be contemplating the options this weekend to fill thew gap caused by O’Dea’s resignation.
The piece goes onto to detail his options
- If a straight replacement for the portfolio is sought in the coming week, Coleman and McMorrow believe that Tony Killeen would the likely choice
- Let things die down for a couple weeks, before announcing a replacement and then reshuffling later in the year
- Holding off all decisions until after Easter and then do a complete reshuffle
The reshuffle, Coleman and McMorrow believe, would be the best option and would give Cowen the chance to appoint someone to help Finance Minister Brian Lenihan with his workload during his treatment for cancer. They note, also, the irony that this would have been the perfect job for O’Dea.
The lead picture on the Trib is of Senator David Norris who has expressed interest in running as president next time around.
The Sunday Business Post
Predictably, the SBP leads with O’Dea’s resignation. The lead by Niamh Connolly and Pat Leahy says that Cowen asked the Greens to allow O’Dea resign “in his own time” but the Greens insisted O’Dea resign immediately. The lead writers claim that the Greens “hardline stance” was adopted to “curtail damage caused by the Party’s support for the Minister in a confidence motion the previous day.”
Samantha McCaughren has a story on the front-page claiming that Denis O’Brien will net over half a billion euros from the sale of Digicel Pacific to its parent company Digicel Group. The deal which will take place between two O’Brien businesses, will allow O’Brien to realise €510m in cash into his pocket.
Sunday Independent
The Sindo leads with the fallout of the O’Dea resignation as well, but takes an interesting peek into the future. The lead by Jody Corcoran claims that the Moriarty report will drive the Greens to the brink of their support for Fianna Fáil within weeks.
Green Party leader John Gormley will come under intense pressure from within his party should he continue to accept further government support from the now-Independent TD, Mr Lowry, if the tribunal report proves to be as critical of him as predicted.
