Senior party personnel constantly complain about the media. They joke about Bertie Ahern having easy access to the pages of certain newspapers. But that's about Bertie Ahern. Fianna Fail is different, they say. The media doesn't like Fianna Fail. Just take the general election last May. They complain that journalists asked hard questions at the party's daily press conferences. The atmosphere was sometimes hostile. But they forget that their attempt to smear the Labour Party backfired over inaccurate corporation tax information; that different answers were given on promises for a new SSIA-pension scheme; that ministers were publicly uncertain and confused over their health spending plans; and that their economic predictions were wildly optimistic. If they wanted Pravda-type coverage they should have issued exclusive and limited invites to those press conferences. And what about Bertie Ahern's performance last May? The Fianna Fail leader ran an atypical campaign. There was something odd about Ahern's election behaviour from the moment on the first day of the campaign when he refused to answer questions at his initial press conference. He ran away from the ongoing revelations about his personal finances. It was a legitimate media story. And it was very much in the public interest to ask questions. But then they don't like to talk about Bertie's money in polite Fianna Fail circles. The next line of attack in Fianna Fail is the media's handling of the televised leader's debate between Enda Kenny and Bertie Ahern. The media called that incorrectly, FF says.

In an act of considerable revisionism, Fianna Fail now claims Ahern's performance in the debate swung the general election. He hammered the Fine Gael leader, we are told. But square that with the fact that Kenny's rating remained solid and his party won extra seats. Research will be published shortly on the general election campaign which will allow better judgement on the debate and it may not be to Fianna Fail's liking or its view of the media.

All kinds of everything at Stormont DANA will be at Stormont this week for the launch of her new autobiography.

She'll have time to chat with the North's First Minister, Ian Paisley. At first, they make unlikely bedfellows. But leaving aside their theological differences both are deeply conservative individuals.

So it's no surprise God gets a good run in Dana's book which is a recollection of her varied career from pop singer to religious advocate.

The chapters on her involvement in politics will attract a certain amount of interest. Not least her revelation that when she was seeking a nomination for the presidency in 1997 Bertie Ahern invited her to put her name forward as Fianna Fail's candidate.

"An unlikely scenario, I thought!" she recalls.

Smart woman!

Greens see red over cabinet decisions Greens see red over cabinet decisions IT SEEMS the Green Party is learning the hard way how Fianna Fail does business at cabinet. John Gormley and Eamon Ryan were not informed about the special legislation for Michael Woods's pension.

Their colleagues in the Seanad . . . Dan Boyle and Deirdre de Burca . . . were missing for the vote on the legislation. Boyle spoke about his party's displeasure at the sequence of events. One can only assume he was speaking with his leader's authority.

But the pension information is not the first time that the Green ministers have been behind the curve at cabinet. Last June Gormley met with senior Labour Party figures to discuss their experiences of being in coalition with Fianna Fail. The Green leader might wish to reacquaint himself with those individuals over the coming weeks.