‘Free-books’ while boxer’s Foley son Micheál scores high, has bounced back off the ropes like Rocky to fare even better... but his namesake must never, EVER be allowed to run a zoo
Irreverent. Irrepressible. In the corridors of power
AS we head into a year of elections – the local and Europeans in June, and the possibility of a General Election this year growing more likely with each passing month – Political Editor JOHN LEE runs the rule over the Cabinet’s best and worst performing ministers this year.
In The Importance Of Being Earnest, Mr Worthing is told that to lose one parent was a misfortune, to lose both looked like carelessness. Had Oscar Wilde been around to write about Leo Varadkar’s parliamentary party he would have had to find previously untapped reserves of drama. More than a quarter of Fine Gael’s TDs are not standing in the next General Election, in an exodus unprecedented in Irish politics. Elections are the only true measure of success for a leader, and whereas Mr Varadkar’s first outing may have been unfortunate, with timing forced on him by the collapse of his majority and unforeseen controversies, if he fails to replace departing TDs with successful candidates he will be accused of careless management of his outfit. Despite all the fluctuations, he remains in the top job, which boosts his rating. 6/10
MICHEáL MARTIN,
Tánaiste, Foreign Affairs Minister
Micheál Martin’s father was a noted amateur boxer, and he would have loved to have seen his son’s Rockylike clambering from the canvas to throw haymakers. Mr Martin has gone from perhaps the lowest point of his leadership to our highestrated politician at the end of 2023. Back in 2022, it was said Leo Varadkar was struggling because of the irrelevance of the Tánaiste’s job in comparison to that of Taoiseach. Yet Mr Martin has prospered where Mr Varadkar floundered, keeping his relevance paramount. Also back in 2022 – July to be precise – a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party was held in Leinster House, only Mr Martin wasn’t there. The meeting discussed his leadership and, with his party languishing in the polls and vocal critics such as Barry Cowen and Marc MacSharry calling for him to go before the election, it looked like his long reign as leader could indeed end prematurely. Now, though, he is the most popular political leader in opinion polls and his leadership on the Middle East conflict has been wise and sure-footed. He, more than anyone, was responsible for the release of Irish citizens in Gaza and of Irish-Israeli girl Emily Hand.
8/10
EAMON RYAN, seems to be impossible to eradicate. The Green Party leader is one of our most enduring politicians. No other figure in his party has his stature, and in the election he is the one most likely to hold his seat. The policies he has made his life’s work are at the forefront of all political platforms, and his performance at COP28 was a credit to Ireland. Still, global pessimism about the environment have hit Mr Ryan’s performance in our eyes and he will be held most responsible for a bad general election for the Greens. 6/10
Finance Minister
The economies of the rest of the eurozone stagnate and Britain is in terrible fiscal shape. Yet Ireland is described as an economic miracle, having come through a global pandemic and war in the east and the Middle East with an economy virtually undamaged. Budget 2024 was not as acclaimed as Budget 2023, yet for a first outing, it was still a good one for Mr McGrath as leader of our fiscal policy. He benefits from the increasingly bonkers economic ideas emerging from Sinn Féin – the latest being a plan to devalue much of the housing in the State. He remains a leading contender to inherit the Fianna Fáil crown whenever Micheál Martin calls it a day. 7/10
PASCHAL DONOHOE, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
Mr Donohoe gets a ‘Grand National Rules’ rating. Although he isn’t particularly talented or glamorous, he remains on his feet and in the race. He got into a very public battle with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly over the health budget which didn’t do him a great amount of credit. He may vault Beecher’s Brook yet and leap all the way to the top job at the International Monetary Fund. Incredible, really.
5/10
SIMON COVENEY,
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Sometimes Mr Coveney is the forgotten man in Fine Gael, with Leo Varadkar and Simon Harris being more adept headlinegrabbers. But in what could be a wipeout election for Fine Gael, Mr Coveney’s experience and staying power – and not least of all his seat – will be vital to the future of the party. Don’t count him out as a potential leadership contender when Mr Varadkar leaves.
NORMA FOLEY, Education Minister
6/10 ‘Free books’ Foley has quietly gone about her business very proficiently, and by following last year’s provision of free books to primary schools with the extension of the scheme to most secondary school students, she has secured her name in the history books. She’s a good minister. 7/10
CATHERINE MARTIN,
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media
A long, multi-sector title she may have, but Ms Martin’s political epitaph will be only three letters long – RTÉ. If a chimpanzee gets out of its zoo cage, chases the kids into the lake, robs the ice cream vendor and violates the flamingo enclosure, do you blame the chimp or the zookeeper who left the cage open? Ms Martin has been a disastrous custodian at a time when our national broadcaster’s reputation was trashed and people in their droves stopped paying their licence fee. No leadership, no solutions, no clue. 2/10
DARRAGH O’BRIEN, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage
It may have taken a war in Ukraine, a war in the Middle East and the careering of the Sinn Féin juggernaut into the ditch to take housing off the frontline of criticism, but there has been a marked change of narrative here. The headline data remains bad, but the conversation in coffee shops and pubs says that a lot of building activity is visible in communities. Industry forecaster Euroconstruct estimates 31,000 homes will be built here this year, ahead of the 29,000 predicted, and 33,000 could be built next year. The organisation, which operates in 19 European countries, says Ireland will be the only one where building will grow, by 7.9%. 6/10
HEATHER HUMPHREYS,
Minister for Social Protection and Rural and Community Development
Steady as always, Ms Humphreys never causes problems for her leader. As we head towards a possible General Election and Presidential election in 2025, when she could be a candidate in both, Ms Humphreys will be an important national voice. Her Protestant and anti-Sinn Féin background could be an important balance if Gerry Adams runs for the Presidency. She secured vital increases for those who rely on her department throughout the cost-of-living crisis.
7/10
CHARLIE McCONALOGUE, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Another minister who causes no problems for his leader (the Fianna Fáil one), but he doesn’t trouble headline writers much either. It is not his fault his department isn’t as sexy as it once was (okay, farming was never truly sexy, but you know what I’m getting at). He is a leading contender for the EU Commission next year and has performed well as Irish farming is bizarrely blamed for damaging the environment while Brazil and Argentina turn their countries into super (and super-damaging) ranches. 6/10
STEPHEN DONNELLY, Minister for Health
As we reported last week, Mr Donnelly could soon be responsible for the virtual abolition of smoking, a move that will secure him a place in the history books and perhaps a fun nickname. An early contender is (No) Smoking Stephen Donnelly… Okay, it doesn’t roll off the tongue, but Mr Donnelly has introduced several striking initiatives, especially in women’s health. His labelling of Paschal Donohoe’s plans to cut health budgets as ‘insane’, which spurred a reporter from our sister title, the Irish Daily Mail, to ask Mr Donohoe at a press conference if he indeed was insane, alone deserves a high rating. 7/10
RODERIC O’GORMAN, Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Mr O’Gorman does nothing wrong in the sections of his department that oversee children, equality, disability and youth. But his department has been responsible for the integration (or more precisely non-integration) of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants and that performance has been an unmitigated catastrophe.
3/10
SIMON HARRIS,
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Simon Harris may be in a relatively controversy-free department now, but for the first half of the year he managed the political graveyard that is the Department of Justice without causing terminal damage to his burgeoning leadership ambitions. By considering what happened to the leadership ambitions of the incumbent in Justice, Helen McEntee, over the rest of the year, this achievement can be seen in its true context. It could even be suspected that some in Leo Varadkar’s camp had hoped Mr Harris would be finished off during his caretaker role in Justice. He endures too.
7/10
HELEN McENTEE, Minister for Justice
Ms McEntee’s leadership ambitions went up in flames as spectacularly as a Luas tram in a city riot. International embarrassment and as yet unmeasured damage to our tourist industry ensued. The riots were presaged by a siege at the Dáil and the seemingly consequence-free blockading of public roads. The year ended with more arson. It has been an appalling performance and both she and the Garda Commissioner should have been sacked.
2/10
Super JuniorS
(Ministers who do not have full Cabinet portfolios, but sit at Cabinet)
HILDEGARDE NAUGHTON, Government Chief Whip
Ms Naughton deserves credit for holding together a Coalition with a razor-thin majority through turbulent times and motions of no confidence. She also spoke calmly and wisely after the disgraceful arson attack on a site earmarked for immigrant accommodation in her Galway West constituency.
6/10
JACK CHAMBERS,
Minister of State at the Department of Transport with special responsibility for Postal Policy
Jack Chambers has introduced what could have been highly controversial lower speed limits and a new penalty points regime with limited resistance. He has also skilfully avoided attention being paid to the fact that, ultimately, the TV licence regime comes within his portfolio. He has deeply impressed Fine Gael and Green ministers, who knew little about him before this Coalition took office, with his mature and measured contributions at Cabinet. With Micheál Martin destined to continue for a long time, like one of those Chinese politburo members, the timing should be right for Chambers to inherit the leadership eventually. 7/10