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Stephen Donnelly gives unconvincing National Maternity Hospital performance

Radio: Minister for Health is smooth on the Delta variant but rattled by the hospital saga

Presenter Shane Coleman: The presence of Nigel Farage is the flipside to Newstalk Breakfast’s energetic, sleeves-up approach. Photograph: Newstalk

Mick Heaney's face
Mick Heaney
Fri Jun 25 2021 - 05:00

The Delta variant may yet have other ideas, but if the week’s radio is anything to go by, blanket coverage of the pandemic seems to be gradually giving way to all those other issues that used to fill the airwaves. Such a scenario may be difficult to imagine for listeners who have developed Stockholm syndrome with Covid news, but Newstalk Breakfast (weekdays) provides a glimpse of what could be.

Interviewed by Shane Coleman on Wednesday's programme, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly sounds more rattled by questions about the ongoing National Maternity Hospital fiasco than he does when quizzed on the new strain of virus. Given the torrid time the Minister has endured over his handling of the lockdown (not to mention the inexcusable personal threats he has faced), this is quite an achievement.

Coleman suggests that the current situation, where the Sisters of Charity effectively own the proposed site at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, is “a mess”. Donnelly disagrees, pointing out that under his watch, as the fourth health minister involved in the project since it started in 2013, “we’re very close to where we want to get to, which is starting to build the hospital”.

To the untrained ear, this sounds suspiciously messy, and that’s before Coleman gets to “the elephant in the room”, the religious order’s failure to gift the land to the State.

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His reply when pressed if there's a connection between governance and ownership – 'I don't believe the two are connected' – isn't particularly reassuring

Donnelly responds with his familiar tack of breaking an awkward question down into smaller components of data and avoid answering those. He acknowledges the “very legitimate concerns” about operational independence from Catholic influence and ownership of the site, but says they are separate issues. There are “watertight guarantees” on the hospital’s clinical autonomy, the Minister continues, citing “legal advice” on the matter. This sounds a bit vague, while his reply when pressed if there’s a connection between governance and ownership – “I don’t believe the two are connected” – isn’t particularly reassuring.

In fairness to Donnelly, it’s a mess (or not) that he inherited. In contrast, he sounds calm when discussing the Delta variant, avoiding gloomy pronouncements about its ramifications for reopening. But the Minister’s unconvincing performance over the hospital’s ownership, by turns blithe and flustered, underscores what a hot political potato it is: there’ll be more on this topic, pandemic or no.

The comprehensive coverage given to the topic throughout Newstalk Breakfast reinforces this perception. Coleman and co-host Ciara Kelly solicit a wide range of views, from Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall decrying the current arrangement to barrister Dermot Flanagan outlining the difficulties of compulsory purchase orders.

This thoroughness is complemented by the palpable conviction that Kelly in particular brings to the matter. The former doctor is adamant on the need for State ownership, lest women’s health ends up being subject to Catholic doctrine once more.

Describing the issue as a “matter of trust”, she thinks the Government should walk from the current deal: “I don’t think we should proceed and hope for the best.” Whatever happens, Kelly and her co-host bring an urgency that makes for compelling listening, giving their morning magazine a distinctive spin in the process.

It’s not all successful. Marking the fifth anniversary of the Brexit referendum, Coleman talks to Nigel Farage. The former UKIP leader is his usual bombastic self, bragging ungrammatically about “the world literally knocking on our door” for a trade deal and piously intoning his displeasure with the Northern Ireland protocol.

Coleman tries his best to counter with some inconvenient facts, but to no avail. The presence of Farage is the flipside to Newstalk Breakfast’s energetic, sleeves-up approach. It’s vital to hear all voices, but Farage provides little value, his once splashy (if dubious) shtick now merely a smug drone of grievance and condescension. It’s almost enough to make the listener pine for talk of case numbers and travel limits.

Portillo still ends up supporting Brexit in all its intractable contradictions, but at least the audience hears both sides of the argument articulated

A far more considered Brexit discussion is heard on the Hard Shoulder (Newstalk, weekdays) when host Kieran Cuddihy speaks to former Tory minister Michael Portillo. While he remains firmly convinced that the UK was right to leave the EU for reasons of "sovereignty, accountability and democracy", Portillo engages with Cuddihy's questions in a cogent, coherent way. Why, it's even good-humoured. True, Portillo still ends up supporting Brexit in all its intractable contradictions, but at least the audience hears both sides of the argument articulated.

The encounter is indicative of the decent shift put in by Cuddihy on Wednesday’s show. He has a similarly informative conversation about the National Maternity Hospital saga with activist Ailbhe Smyth. While rock solid in her position – “We need a solid building on solid land that is solidly owned by the Irish State” – Smyth brings commendable clarity and logic to her arguments.

Cuddihy’s questions are likewise punchy but relevant: he asks whether “perfection is the enemy of good” in this case, prompting his guest to reply that being pushed into bad decisions is wrong in such an important project.

It’s refreshing to hear contentious topics discussed in a contested yet clear manner, no matter that the mood is incongruously punctured by Cuddihy breezily plugging a “kitchen gadget giveaway” promotion. Even then, his seamless switch from interviewer to hyper shows his broadcasting ability.

Even Cuddihy, a self-confessed critic of restrictions, questions his guest's comments

But Cuddihy cannot avoid the subject that still looms above all else, as he talks to immunologist Prof Christine Loscher about the Delta strain of the virus. Loscher, part of the pandemic's second wave of celebrity health experts (she also appears on Today with Claire Byrne over on Radio 1), is worried about the variant's spread but, pushed by Cuddihy, concedes that hospitalisations and mortality should be less than previous surges, due to ongoing vaccinations.

If this lack of alarmism makes for a pleasant change of public health punditry, the host's interview with Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson is more trying. Wilson's desire for a resumption of international travel is understandable, but it's galling to hear him describe restrictions as "locking up" vaccinated people, doubly so when this altruistic concern comes from the boss of the famously tight-fisted airline. Even Cuddihy, a self-confessed critic of restrictions, questions his guest's comments. But one suspects we'll be hearing these conversations for some time yet.

Radio Moment of the Week: Mario’s Ray of gloom

To celebrate the summer solstice, Ian Dempsey (Today FM) talks to fellow Den TV alumnus Ray D'Arcy, or at least Mario Rosenstock's impression of him. The Gift Grub mimic doesn't get D'Arcy's voice quite right, but he captures the lugubrious banality of the RTÉ (and former Today FM) presenter's patter. "It's the longest Monday in seven years," Rosenstock's caricature ponderously intones, "We're into the winter half of the year from tomorrow." It's cruelly accurate, but perhaps a bit close to the knuckle for the jocular Dempsey, who laughs nervously before pleading, "I can't take any more of this." The next Zig and Zag reunion party might be awkward.

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