Frances got her just deserts. Saying her treatment will put women off the Dáil is simply disingenuous

MARY CARR

NEWLY appointed Josepha Madigan seems a good fit as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. True, she has not been long in active politics – just since the last election indeed when as a virtual unknown she saw off Shane Ross for the second seat in Dublin Rathdown.

But Josepha has achieved more in that short time than many backbenchers accomplish over a lifetime in the Dáil.

She has drafted two new pieces of legislation – the first is to cut the waiting time for divorce and is likely to be put to referendum. The second gives judges specific powers in relation to social media posts that risk prejudicing a trial.

Both were doubtless inspired by Josepha’s legal training and her background in family law.

When I interviewed her during her election campaign, she ran a busy solicitors practice with her brother, specialising in family law. She came across as a hardworking and intelligent woman, a mother who had her feet on the ground and was fairly clued in about the curveballs life can throw our way.

She was also philosophical about the future. She made it clear that while she was giving the election her very best shot, she wasn’t going to fall apart should it not go her way. Her lack of vaulting ‘me! me! me!’ ambition plus the admirable get-up-and-go she displayed when she self-published one of her own novels – a rather racy affair as it turns out – seemed unusual for a TD.

In the jittery corridors of power, laidback and level-headed achievers are a rarer breed than those who make waves in an atmosphere of egotistical grandstanding and tedious self-regard.

Think Alan Kelly, for instance, or fearless Kate O’Connell whose ardent support for repealing the Eighth Amendment and shaming of Fine Gael insider Barry Walsh for his sexist tweets were rewarded by streams of welcome publicity.

In contrast to her limelight-loving Dáil colleagues, there is no drama about Josepha Madigan – she seems like a steady pair of hands to serve the ship of State.

Yet a weekend interview with the new minister about her responsibilities around the Cabinet table calls into question her judgment on some matters and shows that for all her dedication to smashing the glass ceiling, she can be as influenced by gender stereotypes as Donald Trump.

To be fair to Josepha, her loyalty to ex-tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald might explain why she casts the Dáil as such a female-unfriendly place.

Josepha is the beneficiary of Mrs Fitzgerald’s departure and it would be perfectly understandable if her delight at her promotion is also tinged with guilt. ‘I would rather have been given this appointment in other circumstances,’ she says before going on to assert that Mrs Fitzgerald was subjected to ‘trial by Dáil’ over her handling of the whistleblower email controversy.

She also parroted the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s conviction that Mrs Fitzgerald will be ‘vindicated’ at the Disclosures Tribunal, which is examining the treatment of whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe in the O’Higgins Commission.

It must be a consolation for Mrs Fitzgerald to have her party colleagues defend her good name and reputation so zealously. Whether she warrants it is another issue.

Tribal

Mrs Fitzgerald proved herself inept to say the least in the Department of Justice. She changed her story about significant emails, she caused the Taoiseach to mislead the Dáil and when she was alerted to former Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan’s legal strategy to try to destroy Sergeant McCabe at the inquiry she did nothing to stop her.

There’s no doubt that tribal loyalty underpins the stubborn support for Mrs Fitzgerald among prominent Fine Gael figures rather than objective evidence.

But regardless of the motives, the immense show of solidarity demolishes Josepha’s contention that the Dáil is a hostile environment for women.

‘I think what’s putting women off entering politics is they look at this hostile environment. Look at Frances Fitzgerald, what she had to go through and they’re saying to themselves, “Why would I put myself through that?”,’ says Josepha.

Now there’s no doubt that Mrs Fitzgerald has suffered a devastating blow to her career but her misfortune was of her own making. Also far from throwing her to the wolves, the Taoiseach brought the country close to a snap election in order to save her skin. Leo Varadkar dragged out discussions for days after the writing was on the wall for the former tánaiste, damaging his own political stock in the process. There has seldom been such a display of unquestioning loyalty in Irish politics.

For ambitious young women contemplating a career in politics, no PR drive about gender quotas could be as persuasive as the Taoiseach’s protective indulgence of Mrs Fitzgerald.

Add to that Mr Varadkar’s saintly patience with the fiery Mary Mitchell O’Connor on the day he was elected Taoiseach. Ms Mitchell O’Connor delayed his appointment of his new Cabinet by throwing a hissy fit about her demotion from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and not getting a junior post to her taste.

A stronger leader would have told her to like it or lump it but Leo Varadkar caved in.

It beggars belief that with a leader who has also promoted the volatile Regina Doherty to the top echelons of power and is putty in the hands of women of a certain age, that Josepha could say that the Dáil is a harsh place for women.

She also reportedly suggests that women may have to work harder than men to develop a ‘thick skin’ amid the ‘skulduggery’ they can encounter in Leinster House.

Has Josepha not noticed how the aforementioned Kate O’Connell thrives in the hotbed of intrigue that is the Dáil and is so taken with the rough and tumble that her sister Mary Newman hopes to join her on the backbenches should she be cleared to contest the next election in Tipperary?

The idea that female TDs are shrinking violets who must be toughened up for the bear pit of parliamentary democracy has surely passed its sell-by date in an era where the most scornful, merciless and vituperative Dáil exchanges often come from the mouths of Mary Lou McDonald, Clare Daly and Ruth Coppinger.

That’s not to say that politics is an ideal career for women – far from it indeed. Childcare is an enormous obstacle to fuller female participation, as is the vitriol – particularly on social media – that women in public life attract.

A male-dominated political culture which gender quotas are only starting to impact on is also a factor. But things are improving; junior minister Helen McEntee says that even since she started out as her late father’s parliamentary secretary, the profile of the Dáil has become more female-inclusive.

The last election saw women elected to 35 seats, or 22% of the Dáil, their highest ever representation.

It’s a shame that Minister Josepha Madigan doesn’t acknowledge progress and encourage more women to follow her path, rather than make false claims about a hostile Dáil.