WHAT A MONTH OF POLITICAL MAYHEM
Gaffe-prone Coalition can only blame itself for the calamities that dogged its first 37 days
AFTER a month of constant controversies, the new Government has the summer to heal after a raft of self-inflicted wounds.
But ultimately, it has been saved from a technical knock-out by the timely chime of the Dáil recess bell.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s Government has been dogged by what seems like daily controversy in its short 37-day existence.
On Friday, the Taoiseach said ‘there hasn’t been enough discussion on the substance of policy issues’ that his Government has brought forward.
The €5 billion July stimulus package and the roadmap to reopening schools within the next four weeks should have been the hallmark of this new Government.
Instead, the legacy thus far is one of a drink-driving minister who had to be sacked, phantom pay cuts and a neglect of the West of Ireland, to name just a few.
Mr Martin has insisted he ‘hasn’t wasted an hour’ since taking office. This may well be true, but a lot of these hours have been devoted to fire-fighting the endless stream of calamities.
For a man who has spent three decades in politics, the naivety of many of the mistakes has been surprising, even galling, to many.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar released a video on Saturday proclaiming that the new Government had made ‘a lot of unforced errors’.
Mr Varadkar’s meddling hasn’t gone unnoticed throughout Fianna Fáil. Anger is building right up through the ranks, but Mr Martin is trying to fight back against the constant efforts to undermine him.
Mr Martin might be Taoiseach, but he remains so (for now) at the behest of Mr Varadkar and his soaring opinion poll ratings.
The Dáil eventually broke for its six-week summer recess in the early hours of Friday morning, but not before the Convention Centre was the scene of a Green revolt that threatened the stability of the Government.
‘I at least thought we’d get to the Budget before this happened,’ said one clearly exhausted Cabinet minister.
The Green Parliamentary Party met on Thursday night, where a restoration of order was attempted by party leader Eamon Ryan after two of his TDs broke rank.
Junior minister Joe O’Brien abstained from the vote to extend the rent and evictions freeze to just those impacted by
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT the pandemic, while party Neasa Hourigan voted against it.
The pair have received a timid sanction of losing speaking rights for two months, which translates to two weeks of Dáil sitting time due to the recess. Ms Hourigan also resigned as party whip.
Even in politics, three is most definitely a crowd, and the Greens have never proved to be easy bedfellows.
Senior figures in both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were sceptical that a coalition with the Greens would be functional throughout the negotiating process. Thursday’s events have brought these doubts back into focus.
The life expectancy of this Government has been shortening by the day ever since it was formed. The break will give time for the parties to take stock, and for ministers to fully settle into their briefs.
A decision will be made at Cabinet tomorrow on whether to move the country into Phase Four, the final stage of the roadmap out of lockdown.
Will it see the reopening of pubs and a further restoration of some degree of normality?
Or mayhem and revolts if thousands of publicans are forced to stay shut and face ruin?
The next big test will be when the Dáil resumes in six weeks.
If the schools have reopened on time at the end of August and remain open it will be seen as a major achievement and will give him a much need bounce to push on.
Success here will tame some of the internal rebels.
Failure to reach this milestone – painted as a core priority in stabilising the country – could lead to a crisis in confidence and place an even larger question mark over the longevity of this Government.
If the nerves of parents and publicans continue to be preyed upon, so too will those of politicians holding very tentative reins to power. In the meantime they can use their break to reflect upon the mounting toll of controversies thus far:
Meddling hasn’t gone unnoticed
A SNUB TO THE WEST
When the Cabinet positions were unveiled, there was one glaring omission – Fianna Fáil deputy leader Dara Calleary, who was appointed as Government Chief Whip and junior minister.
The lack of a Cabinet place for the Mayo TD created anger both within his own party, and among the 1.1 million people from Co. Limerick all the way up to Co.
Donegal, who had no senior Cabinet ministerial representation.
While the Taoiseach and others fortunate enough to be appointed as a Government minister argued geography should not be a factor in Cabinet selection, the decision sparked ire right along the western seaboard and one local editorial claiming it was a ‘Cabinet for Cromwell’.
BARRY COWEN
Revelations about a driving ban for drunk driving while on a provisional license in 2016 emerged just days after he was appointed as Minister for Agriculture.
Just 17 days after being appointed to Cabinet, Barry Cowen was finally sacked by the Taoiseach.
When the story of Mr Cowen’s driving ban first broke there was no sense in the corridors of Leinster House that it was going to end his embryonic ministerial career.
Sinn Féin didn’t seem to be particularly concerned about the issue, and party leader Mary Lou McDonald didn’t raise it during Mr Martin’s first Leader’s Questions.
Things changed, however, when The Sunday Times reported alleged details of the Garda Pulse file of the September 2016 incident, when Mr Cowen was stopped by gardaí.
Mr Cowen strongly disputes the Garda account of the incident, which would amount to a criminal offence, one which he wasn’t charged for.
Despite this, the failure to disclose the details when he made a statement to the Dáil led to claims he had misled the House. Mr Martin opted to sack Mr Cowen to draw a line under the saga, but in doing so he created a powerful enemy who could cause significant trouble from within party ranks, alongside Jim O’Callaghan, who is patiently preparing his leadership challenge.
The sacking of Mr Cowen led to the promotion of Mr Calleary to the Cabinet seat he vacated, solving one problem at least.
EAMON RYAN
The Green Party leader used all of his powers of persuasion and experience to secure a 74% majority vote to enter Government, despite a split in his own parliamentary party on the very
issue, which also factored in an impending leadership challenge.
In the days before polling closed in the leadership contest, Mr Ryan fell asleep in the makeshift Dáil Chamber in the Convention Centre during a motion on lower-paid employment rights. Government Chief Whip Jack Chambers was forced to call out his name to wake the sleeping Transport Minister.
But it was the narrow vote margin between him and Catherine Martin for the leadership of the party that served as the real wake-up call.
PAYBACK
The secret ballot for Leas-Cheann Comhairle provided the perfect setting for some of those nursing wounds and bruised egos to take revenge in what one TD described as a ‘perfect crime’.
Veteran Fine Gael backbench TD Fergus O’Dowd was the Government nomination for Leas-Cheann Comhairle, which comes with a pleasant €38,787 salary top-up, in what was expected to be a formality.
But there was shock when Independent TD and former Mayor of Galway Catherine Connolly was elected by 77 votes to 74 in the secret ballot and became the first female to hold either the position of Ceann Comhairle or Leas-Cheann Comhairle in the 101-year history of the Dáil.
The secret ballot proved an alltoo irresistible opportunity to defy the leadership without fear of retribution.
GREEN LIST
The publication of the three-time delayed ‘green list’ of 15 destinations where people do not need to restrict their movements after visiting when they arrive in Ireland caused widespread confusion.
Gibraltar and Monaco, which are on the list, have no direct flights from Ireland and the principality of Monaco does not even have an airport.
This means a transit through countries not on the ‘green list’ is required in order to reach the two locations. Revisions to the list are awaited and will no doubt add to the Government’s headaches if the recent increase in cases becomes more of a wave than a ripple.
SUPER-JUNIOR
The appointment of three superjunior ministers gave rise to a problem. Existing legislation meant that the €16,000 allowance for this position could only be paid to two super juniors.
The previous government had attempted to pay it to three before and it ultimately had to be paid back by then government chief whip Regina Doherty.
A solution needed to be found to a problem that was created out of a need to create an extra job for party hierarchy.
Ultimately, the two allowances would be combined and divided out between the three super juniors. A rather simple solution, yet the Government opted to endure days of outrage by trying to have a third €16,000 allowance introduced at a time of warning about the worst economic depression we have ever seen and cuts to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).
PHANTOM PAY CUT
In a bid to stem the controversy surrounding the super junior minister pay allowance, Mr Martin announced that he, along with the Tánaiste, senior and junior ministers, would be taking a 10% pay cut.
The move, he said, had been agreed ‘weeks’ beforehand and wasn’t linked to the ongoing pay controversy.
However, it emerged that previous pay cuts taken by the last government had lapsed and 10% announced by Martin was actually slightly less than the previous government had taken, meaning he would be earning about €1,500 more per annum than Leo Varadkar did as Taoiseach.
PUP SURVEILLANCE
Reports that people on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) were having their payment stopped due to overseas travel with checks at airports sparked outrage.
It led to a dramatic U-turn by the Government. Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys told the Dáil late on Tuesday night that people need to ‘stay in this country’ to receive the payment. But it led to a complete climb down just 14 hours later where she said people would not be penalised if they travelled to a green-listed country and that those who had been wrongly penalised already could have their claim reviewed.
GREEN REVOLT
The Government was thrown into a tail-spin on the final sitting day late on Thursday when Green Party junior minister Joe O’Brien abstained from a vote on Government legislation, while Green Party TD and Party Whip Neasa Hourigan voted against the Bill.
The legislation proposes to extend the rent freeze and eviction ban to those impacted by the pandemic. Opposition parties, and Ms Hourigan, wanted the ban to be universal. Ms Hourigan was forced to resign as party whip and the pair have lost speaking rights for two months – six weeks of which are a recess. The incident has led to legitimate fears of a split in the Green Party which could drastically destabilise the newly-formed tripartite coalition.
WHO IS THE ACTUAL TAOISEACH?
The former and future Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been a constant thorn in Mr Martin’s side.
Mr Varadkar promised to create ‘air bridges’ with other countries in his final weeks as Taoiseach. This promise was inherited by the Government which eventually, after three delays, released a green list of countries it was safe to travel to.
On the eve of the publication of the list the Tánaiste was fanning the flames of confusion claiming there was ‘mixed messages about international travel’ and that we would be potentially better off ‘not having a green list at all’.
Confusion ensued and continues. The controversy around the PUP accelerated after Mr Varadkar told RTÉ’s The Week In Politics that airports were providing the Department of Social Protection with data on passengers and where they were travelling to. Something which Dublin Airport immediately refuted and the Data Protection Commissioner investigated.
Mr Varadkar doesn’t want to collapse the Government at the moment. Timing is everything in politics, his goal will be to sow the seeds of panic and incompetence in the new Taoiseach and then resume his throne in two years time, providing a perfect lead-in to the general election.
A Government can’t sustain such persistent controversy. Mr Martin is going to have to learn to nullify his troublesome Tánaiste if he wants this Government to endure and be remembered for something other than gaffes.