Four high-profile resignations in the last couple of weeks, odds of a 2010 election being cut to 7/4 and James Downey on the radio this morning saying a trip to the polls before the Summer is likely -  is it time to order in the family-sized packs of Complan?

If not for the politicians (who are looking hagard at best), then for the correspondents and the politicial junkie bloggers and Twitterers?

Barely a day is going by without a national shitfit in the Houses of Oireachtas. Just before the explosive media feeding frenzy, the political news junkies were setting themselves up to track the passage of the Finance Bill 2010 through committee. Yesterday was supposed to be celebratory for the Greens, with a fresh-faced senator in the upper house – instead they lost a former leader and Junior Minister.

Who’s next and who’s up for Berocca?

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.

Willie O’Dea was interviewed on this lunchtime’s News at One by Sean O’Rourke on the fallout from AffidavitGate.

O’Rourke began by playing the audio of the (by-now) infamous interview by journalist Mike Dwane. The tape was released by the Limerick Leader just before lunch.

Listen in for O’Dea claiming that’s he’s a victim.

Photo from last night’s debate of confidence in Minister O’Dea

After yesterday’s hijinxs in the Dáil where O’Dea read his statement to the chamber, the Limerick Leader lets the reporter at the heart of the storm tells his story exclusively in this weekend’s edition.

Dwane says:

When I was asked to cover Fianna Fail’s local election launch in the Clarion Hotel on March 9 last year, I didn’t expect people to be talking about Willie O’Dea’s comments for any longer than the next 12 hours, never mind 12 months.

Teaser! The paper will be on the stalls tomorrow.

Willie O’Dea was on this evening’s Drivetime to address the deficit of Government response to the national cold snap. Besides, washing his hands of involvement in the salting and sanding of roads. It is a matter of local government he said, after all, unless of course, one looks up the Office of Emergency Planning – an office that lies within the remit of O’Dea and clearly points the responsibility needs to be taken up by central government.

A link from the website of the OEP leads site of the Department of Health and Children and the Framework of Major Emergency Management. The report cites that a Major Emergency needs to be called. A Major Emergency is defined as:

… any event which, usually with little or no warning, causes or threatens death or injury, serious disruption of essential services or damage to property, the environment or infrastructure beyond the normal capabilities of the principal emergency services in the area in which the event occurs, and requirest he activation of specific additional procedures and the  mobilisation of additional resources to ensure an effective, co-ordinated response.

This is in stark contrast to the National Emergency Response Committee that met for the first time earlier today to formulate a response to the worsening weather conditions. So, why has a Major Emergency not been called and not done days ago?

O’Dea also said that Government had recently become aware of the problem.  Drivetime were good enough to replay a days old weather forecast to help him out. All this despite The Big Freeze biting out national noses for over a fortnight! Hope he has his snow boots on, he’s well know for stomping the streets when he’s in Limerick!