‘Trouble brewing’ as FG senators vie for Seanad role
TROUBLE is brewing among Fine Gael senators with Jerry Buttimer and Joe O’Reilly in a head-to-head fight for the Seanad Cathaoirleach role.
As part of the historic deal that saw Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael enter government together, the two parties agreed to rotate a number of key roles.
Leo Varadkar will take over as Taoiseach from Micheál Martin in December, with the Fianna Fáil leader becoming Tánaiste. It is not going as smoothly at the Finance ministry, with Fine Gael against plans for Paschal Donohoe to swap with Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath.
But Fine Gael senators have told the Irish Daily Mail that the real drama could happen in the upper house.
The role of Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, currently occupied by Fianna Fáil Senator Mark Daly, is set to be passed over to Fine Gael and there was an assumption that the position would rotate to the Seanad’s Leas-Cathaoirleach, Fine Gael’s Joe O’Reilly.
However, several Fine Gael sources have told the Mail that Mr Buttimer wants to regain the position he gave up after the Golfgate controversy. The Cork senator was previously Leas-Cathaoirleach but stood down following his attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society event in August 2020.
In February 2022, a District Court judge dismissed charges against four men accused of breaking pandemic rules on gatherings.
Several Fine Gael sources told the Mail that this has ‘vindicated’ Mr Buttimer and that it is now believed he will seek the Cathaoirleach position in December. The Fine Gael group in the Seanad is hoping that Mr Varadkar will make a decision on the role, rather than opening it up to a vote.
One senator said Mr Varadkar has to decide ‘is he going to have a competition and have the Fine Gael group divided or will he appoint it himself’. They added: ‘There will be trouble. You have Jerry who, rightly or wrongly, thinks he has been vindicated. He is of the view that he has done his time. Joe is saying, “I have done a job, surely I will become Cathaoirleach.” There is trouble brewing.’
Another Fine Gael senator said that both Senator O’Reilly and Senator Buttimer have already been canvassing their colleagues.
They said: ‘It is very awkward... There’s only 16 of us, 14 who would have a vote. It is just unnecessary.’
One Fine Gael senator pointed out that Mr Buttimer stood down from the LeasCathaoirleach without being asked following Golfgate. ‘There’s a school of thought that Jerry was hard done by and should be in the position,’ they said. ‘Ideally that decision has to be made by Leo.’
Another Fine Gael senator said that Mr O’Reilly has done a good job as Leas-Cathaoirleach.
Several people also suggested that Regina Doherty could be put forward as Cathaoirleach so that she can keep some of the perks associated with the Seanad speaker role. This includes extra staff.
To complicate matters, a number of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael senators confirmed that there have been rumours that Mr Daly will not relinquish his Cathaoirleach role. Fine Gael sources said that if he does not step down, a motion of no confidence will have to be put down. ‘You don’t know what he would do,’ one source said.
But a Fianna Fáil senator pointed out that Mr Daly is close with Fianna Fáil Seanad leader Lisa Chambers, who is due to succeed Ms Doherty as Speaker of the Seanad. ‘He wouldn’t do Lisa out of a job,’ they said. Another said that ‘Mark will honour the commitment’.
Senators Buttimer and O’Reilly both told this newspper that they had ‘no comment’ on the matter. Mr Daly pointed out another newspaper interview he did last month where he said he had been ‘honoured to hold the position for the period that I have’.
‘It is just unnecessary’