Ó Cuív reveals incredible European foresight in hindsight

DÁIL SKETCH:De Valera's grandson canvassed against accession to the EEC

YOU LEARN something new in Irish politics every day.

Galway West Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív, grandson of Éamon de Valera, revealed yesterday that he canvassed against Ireland joining the EU, then known as the EEC, in the 1972 referendum.

The young Ó Cuív was out of tune with the then Fianna Fáil government, which advocated joining. It was a process set in motion by Seán Lemass in the early 1960s.

The revelation emerged as Ó Cuív trumpeted his socialist credentials in a fashion similar to his former leader Bertie Ahern some years ago.

He spoke of his “antipathy towards the competition god of Europe, which is the real cause of the problem in the banks”. The Bank of Scotland and a range of other foreign banks were just as bad as the Irish banks, said Ó Cuív.

“Money came in thanks to the free market,” he said.

“There was a fallacious belief that the free market and competition solved all problems.”

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin listened with interest on the Government benches.

“There is still a social democrat in Deputy Ó Cuív,” he observed.

Ó Cuív responded: “I am probably much more to the left than the Minister’s acting”. When Howlin remarked that Ó Cuív was in the wrong party, he was greeted with silence.

Newly elected Galway East Labour TD Colm Keaveney suggested that Ó Cuív’s socialism was because Sinn Féin’s Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh was breathing down his electoral neck in his constituency.

“No, I was this way long before the Senator ever appeared on the scene,” came the response.

He said that if Keaveney checked his record, he would see “that I canvassed publicly against our entry into the European Union, which was probably before he was born”.

Earlier, Ó Cuív had asked Howlin the €4 billion question.

Would the Government be taking the advice of the Fiscal Advisory Council and opt for that level of adjustment in the budget? Howlin, sitting next to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, said he would not be announcing the budget “today”. That was a matter for the Minister for Finance on a date to be determined, he said. Noonan seemed relieved.

Howlin reminded the socialist Ó Cuív that he had left a hole to be filled by social welfare reductions of €1.91 billion from his time in government.

Glaring at Ó Cuív, Noonan demanded: “Tell us how you are going to do it”.

Howlin, who with Noonan meets the troika today, said that while Fianna Fáil might welcome the loss of the State’s economic sovereignty, the rest of the country did not.

This unleashed a verbal explosion from Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher . At least, he said, the troika would stop the Government making more U-turns and telling more lies. “Lies!”

Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett urged restraint.

“The deputy will be taking a shower if he is not careful,” he warned. He did not specify if it would be hot or cold.