O’Dowd saga left Micheál and Leo seething... a sign of the bickering that will scar Coalition
POLITICS, sure is a dirty business! Yet again, last week, we were reminded of this, when the surprise result of the secret ballot for the Leas Ceann Comhairle position was announced. The Government nominee, veteran TD Fergus O’Dowd, was beaten, 77 to 74 votes, for the job by independent TD from Galway West, Catherine Connolly. It had been universally expected that O’Dowd would win the contest, as he had been backed by the leaders of his own party Fine Gael, and of Fianna Fáil and the Greens.
Clearly, a substantial number of the total 84 Government TDs voted for Connolly, rather than for O’Dowd.
Indeed, a few weeks ago, just after he had been nominated by Leo Varadkar, O’Dowd gave an interview on his local radio station, LMFM, indicating how honoured he was to have been nominated, and the exchange ended with presenter Mike Reade wishing him well in his new job – and jokingly suggesting that O’Dowd was probably going off to get himself fitted for a new ceremonial gown.
The Dáil vote must have been a bitter disappointment to O’Dowd personally but it has caused an even greater shock in political circles. While the average member of the public may not be too exercised about who gets what job in Leinster House, I have no doubt that there will be major political ramifications flowing from this result.
Fine Gael sources were laying the blame squarely on Fianna Fáil, while some Fianna Fáil figures, in turn, were of the view that dissidents within their ranks had done this to fire a shot across Micheál Martin’s bows.
Strife
Equally, there were suggestions that some in Fine Gael might not have voted for O’Dowd because they felt someone such as party veteran Bernard Durkan deserved it before anyone else.
There is also some speculation that quite a number of female TDs backing the Government, especially in the Green ranks, could not pass over the chance to vote in the first female Leas Ceann Comhairle.
Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar were putting a brave face on it. But you can be sure that, behind the scenes, they were seething, in varying degrees.
Martin explained that having a secret vote was a manifestation of a desire of the wider Oireachtas membership to get ‘greater autonomy’ within the Dáil.
In other words, that positions such as this not be in the gift of the Government or of political parties. But no one really believes that. The fact of the matter is that the leadership of the three parties in the Coalition Government expected that all of their members would toe the line and vote for O’Dowd.
However, given the open strife within all three parties, it should have come as no surprise that some, given the opportunity presented by a secret vote, would not plump for the chosen nominee.
A secret vote on such a matter was always potentially going to backfire on party leaderships.
It has been said to me, quite often, by some of my former colleagues still in the Dáil, that standards have slipped, in many ways, since my time there. One only has to look at how any effort at enforcing a reasonable dress code has gone by the wayside. And even more importantly, how party discipline has dramatically weakened.
The much-maligned Charlie Haughey was correct when he famously insisted on an up-front roll-call vote, rather than a secret vote, on a motion of no-confidence in his leadership. Being a hard-nosed political practitioner, Haughey knew full well that the only way he could flush out dissidents was to make them ‘put up or shut up’ out in the open.
While I have no doubt that Catherine Connolly approached many TDs looking for their vote, I wonder did Fergus O’Dowd lobby individual Fianna Fáil and Green TDs? Or did he naively rely on the expectation that they would follow the party whip.
Politicians, no more than most people, tend to have long memories. And I’ve no doubt some in Fianna Fáil will have remembered O’Dowd’s instigation of a complaint against Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers following reports that she had voted for a Fianna Fáil colleague in the Dáil chamber. There were a good few eyebrows raised when someone with such a long-standing Dáil record as O’Dowd took it upon himself to write to the Clerk of the relevant committee seeking a formal investigation regarding her alleged transgressions. At the time, Micheál Martin was apoplectic at the targeting of Ms Chambers, calling it a ‘classic Fine Gael personal attack’. Chambers was, at that time, an up-and-coming Fianna Fáil TD, very close to Martin. A month later, in last February’s election, she lost her seat, in a major blow to Fianna Fáil. She is now a Fianna Fáil senator, having been nominated by Micheál Martin. It may be that the Chambers incident weighed heavily on the hearts of some Fianna Fáil TDs when they were casting their vote.
Since the formation of this three-way Coalition, there has been an uneasy tension between the three parties. They have a very difficult agenda ahead of them. The last thing they need is constant bickering and oneupmanship. But that is what we have been treated to. Fine Gael TDs have been privately scoffing at what they allege is Fianna Fáil incompetence, while gently reminding people of how well they handled the virus crisis during their tenure in charge.
Stability
They have been delighting in the discomfiture in Fianna Fáil over ministerial appointments and over the Barry Cowen affair. Fianna Fáil members, in turn, were annoyed by Varadkar going on a solo run over the thorny issue of foreign travel. Martin has been striving to show how well the Government has been coherently handling the difficult issues on its agenda. But the reality is that some of his own new Fianna Fáil ministers have been struggling to get to grips with their very difficult briefs.
The Greens have had their own difficulties, culminating in the very tight leadership battle.
But the O’Dowd loss will have a much wider impact on the stability of this fledgling Government. However it happened, it will not be easily forgotten. The suspicions will linger on and will add to continuing bad blood between the parties in Government. We can expect this type of bickering to continue for as long as this Government is in place.