Brexit coup saves Leo from wrath of hurricane Frances

Leo Varadkar was looking back on six months of mostly unearned good luck since being elected Taoiseach as he left the EU Summit in Brussels on Friday. A delayed political victory in the Brexit saga on Monday deflected attention from his illjudged support for Frances Fitzgerald the week before. The incredible story of the former justice minister’s thwarted ambitions, in tandem with the Taoiseach’s grand plan for their party has yet to be told.

It all sprang out of Fitzgerald’s ambitions to become the Fine Gael candidate for the Presidency next year – and the Taoiseach buying into her fantastic plan.

Like all his predecessors, Mr Varadkar is only too painfully aware that no Fine Gael candidate has ever won the Presidency.

Transforming Frances Fitzgerald from reforming minister for justice to enlightened Presidential candidate was a tantalising prospect for the new Taoiseach.

And it goes a long way to explaining why Leo Varadkar supported her so stubbornly, long after it was obvious the then tánaiste was hopelessly compromised.

Removing an accident-prone minister for justice and simultaneously securing a potentially successful Presidential candidate for Fine Gael next year was a glittering prize for the Taoiseach.

Yet the then minister for justice’s kid glove handling of Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan and her force’s shabby treatment of whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe could not be reconciled – nor can it be credibly explained.

Hypnotised by the prospect of the Presidency, Fitzgerald refused to acknowledge what she knew about the Commissioner’s legal strategy against Sgt McCabe and what she didn’t do about it when questions arose last month.

Brazening it out was an astonishing strategy for the minister – and strikingly similar to the tactics adopted by the Garda Commissioner.

Nóirín O’Sullivan eventually had to resign. But earlier, she had stubbornly refused to acknowledge a potentially criminal coverup at the Garda training college in Templemore. Looking back, incredible denials of obvious truths emerged as an informal policy in and around Government and the Garda in recent years.

The former Garda Commissioner retained corporate public relations consultant Terry Prone last year to advise her about her statements about Sgt McCabe.

Ms Prone is also an old friend and her Communications Clinic are long-time advisers to Ms Fitzgerald, who paid their fees from her personal ministerial allowance when she was appointed minister for children in 2012.

Ms Prone would have been proud to see women friends and clients dominate law and order in Ireland: Ms Fitzgerald as minister for justice and Nóirín O’Sullivan, the first woman appointed Garda Commissioner.

Despite Mr Varadkar’s apparently unswerving loyalty to Ms Fitzgerald, too many party members’ support drained from her, and eventually, he had no real choice but to accept her resignation.

Yet despite the public’s distrust of the minister and the Taoiseach’s questionable handling of the crisis, Fine Gael led Fianna Fáil by 11 points in an opinion poll last weekend.

And it was even more confusing when the same poll found that a significant majority believed Micheál Martin handled the Frances Fitzgerald problem much better than the Taoiseach.

That unexpected boost in the polls will put a seasonal spring in the Taoiseach’s step.

But the prospect of President Frances Fitzgerald is now as

likely as the appointment of Sgt Maurice McCabe as Garda Commissioner. Watching television at home, even the Oireachtas channel, makes for a perfect duvet-day in December – but less fun when your leg is in a cast and must be kept elevated.

And for three weeks I was fascinated by the intense debate in an Oireachtas committee about changing the abortion laws broadcast from Committee Room 3, Leinster House.

As a father of daughters, I want what is best for women because any improvement to their lot enhances all of our lives.

I do not want to select any politician in particular for praise because many of them in the debate deserve our gratitude and respect for doing what was a thankless task.

But I happen to know Senator Ned O’Sullivan, a shrewd Kerryman with keen sense of humour who, tongue-in-cheek, first raised Hitchcockian fears of seagulls around Leinster House.

Senator O’Sullivan also had the courage to change his mind and vote for the repeal of article 40.3.3 after hearing the compelling evidence given to the committee by expert witnesses. As a compulsive reader of obituaries, I noted two pristine examples last week where vituperation was the last word for a couple of internationally celebrated scoundrels.

The upmarket Economist had ‘Snake-in-chief’ below ‘Obituary Ali Abdullah Saleh’ and a strap saying ‘the first president of a united Yemen was killed on December 4’.

And I’m sure the family and friends of the late Max Clifford had hoped for a kinder appraisal of the British publicist’s life and times in the influential website Popbitch.

It read: ‘It’s a pretty ignominious way to go out – suffering a heart attack in prison, midway through an eight-year sentence for sexually assaulting teenagers, after enduring a gruelling and extremely public court case in which your micropenis was discussed extensively.

‘But if you’re going to make ignominy your business, then that’s the risk you run.’