Miriam Lord’s Week: Leo is made up to meet Love Actually’s maker

On the first night of his first trip to Davos, Leo Varadkar found himself in some very exalted company at a dinner hosted by Bill and Melinda Gates, where guests included the Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai.

We're not sure if Leo does embarrassment, but we hear he was ever so slightly mortified when arriving at his table to find the film director Richard Curtis sitting opposite. Curtis wrote and produced Love Actually, the schmaltzy English romcom that made our rookie Taoiseach all star-struck on a big trip to London during his first week in the job.

Bursting with excitement and enthusiasm as he walked into 10 Downing Street with the British prime minister, Theresa May, last year, he told her it was his first time in the famous building and was quite the thrill.

"I was reminded of that famous scene in Love Actually where Hugh Grant does his dance down the stairs," Leo gurgled happily to Mrs May. "But apparently it wasn't filmed here, so I didn't get a chance to see the stairs."

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Bless.

His glee at finding himself in such famous surroundings made world headlines. So when Richard Curtis saw Varadkar (star-struck for the second time) on Wednesday night, he knew exactly who he was and was delighted to fill him in about Love Actually, Downing Street and filming the movie.

The main session Paschal attended was on global tax avoidance, although the session on 'hope for elephants' sounded far more interesting

The dinner was held halfway up a mountain, in the delightfully named Shatzalp hotel. It could be reached only by a funicular railway; besides Leo, the former US secretary of state John Kerry and the singers will.i.am and Usher boarding it. We hear the Web Summit founder Paddy Cosgrave attended a party afterwards in the chalet of the PR supremo Matthew Freud.

On his second night in the Swiss Alps, Varadkar and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe cohosted an IDA Ireland dinner for 70 executives at Hotel Grischa. The Taoiseach didn’t hang around, as he wanted to attend an LGBT event nearby. When he got there he caused quite a stir, with a rush of people lining up to shake his hand.

One after the other they introduced themselves and their business. They were all executives from Mastercard. The Taoiseach was intrigued to find so many gay people working for the company.

Then an aide tracked him down – he hadn’t turned up where he had been expected – and told him he’d gone to the wrong reception on the wrong floor.

Paschal, who stayed longer in Davos, seems to have had a far heavier schedule than his boss, including a lot of interviews with international networks. The main session he attended was on global tax avoidance, although the session on “hope for elephants” sounded far more interesting.

The Minister for Finance did quite well from his trip, though. He came away with a snazzy new anorak, courtesy of Bloomberg. Paschal was delighted with himself, as a good anorak is de rigueur for any self-respecting politician with ambition in Dublin Central, where Bertie Ahern made the garment his constituency trademark.

Renua-ing rivalries on abortion debate

Minister of State for Training and Skills John Halligan removed a very graphic abortion video from his Facebook page this week after it was posted there by a constituency rival in Waterford.

The Independent Alliance TD, who is pro-choice, says he didn’t know the video was on his page until a distressed woman member of his local team contacted him about it. It was posted by Lee Walsh, who failed to get elected for Renua in last year’s general election and is set to run for the party next time out.

“If somebody attacks me politically on social media, I leave it up there – I’m not afraid of a debate. But a number of women rang me this week about the video. One of them said her friend had lost a baby, and when she saw the video up on my Facebook page she was horrified. I felt I had to take it down because some of the people were so upset.”

Halligan says he was going to complain to Renua but decided not to bother. “I haven’t tried to contact Lee Walsh or his party. You can’t argue with fundamentalists, that’s my view.”

The Minister says the people sending him such material know exactly where he stands and how he will vote. But he believes that politicians who have not yet made up their minds on the abortion issue are going to come under unacceptable pressure from interest groups.

“This is not about holding a particular opinion. For example, Mary Butler” – the Fianna Fáil TD for Waterford – “is very reasonable, and while I wouldn’t share her view, I totally respect her and would be happy to debate her any time.”

He says it is “incredible” and “horrible” that a member of a political party in Waterford would post such an offensive video. “This is not reasonable debate. It doesn’t bother me, but I worry about people who are on the margins and wavering about what to do. What sort of pressure will they be put under?”

Halligan says he is keeping a record of all the offensive posts.

Delaying tactics or a right to speak?

With the Government holding fast to its late-May deadline for a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, a lot of legislative groundwork has to be done before then. It has been suggested in some political quarters that opponents of repeal will try to delay the referendum until the summer, when students and younger voters are more likely to be abroad.

When Dáil statements on the report of the Oireachtas committee on abortion took place at the end of January, the session ran out of speakers with nearly 2½ hours to spare. In this situation, with no vote required and no more TDs offering to speak, the relevant Minister usually brings the debate to a close with a concluding speech.

But when the Leas-Ceann Comhairle tried to conclude the session, Mattie McGrath said that he had intended to speak the following week and that other deputies had gone home early that day because they also thought they would have time to speak another day.

A number of TDs in the chamber expressed frustration, pointing out that anyone who wanted to speak had had ample time. But Deputy McGrath argued that the order paper said the debate would be “adjourned”, rather than “concluded”, if no speakers were left, leading some Deputies to think they could leave and speak another day.

In the end the Ceann Comhairle was summoned to pass judgment. He said it was for the business committee to decide if more time was needed.

The committee met on Thursday, and Mattie brought up the abortion committee statements, arguing that some TDs would be prevented from speaking on a hugely important subject. After some discussion it was suggested that more time could be made available next Thursday. Mattie objected, saying this would be unfair on rural TDs who wanted to speak about abortion but also wanted to return early to their constituencies.

It was pointed out that 15 hours had already been given for statements and 80 TDs took the opportunity to speak. There would also be more time to debate abortion when the referendum Bill and legislation framework are before the House.

In the end the matter was put back for discussion next week with a consensus view that another hour or so could be made available. The feeling around the table was that nobody should be prevented from speaking on such an important issue but this should not delay progress on the referendum and speakers should stick to the subject of the committee report.

Decision time gets nearer for Big Phil

Michael D isn’t the only office holder whose intentions are unknown. Will he or won’t he decide to try for another stint in Áras an Uachtaráin?

President Higgins will have to let us know by September at the very latest. Phil Hogan, on the other hand, has a bit more time to play with. Does our EU commissioner want a second term in Brussels? He certainly seems to be enjoying the gig and is very well got around Europe.

Big Phil was in Dublin on Thursday to address the AEJ, which is either the Association of European Journalists or the Association of Elderly Journalists. (We’re not quite sure which.) He held forth on Brexit and other matters, and a very good luncheon was had by all.

And people fell to thinking, How long has the former minister and TD for Carlow-Kilkenny got left in his current position?

Not that long, it turns out. His term officially ends on October 31st, 2019, but the process to find our next EU commissioner starts far earlier than that. The Taoiseach – whoever that may be – will nominate somebody next June or July. It isn’t a good idea to hold off naming the commissioner until the last minute, as it usually means the plum portfolios have already been bagged by the early starters, who had a chance to set out their stalls.

A scenario gaining traction is that, should the Europhile Leo come out on the wrong side of the election, he would be a popular choice to replace Jean-Claude Juncker

Talk has already started in Dublin about whether Big Phil wants to stay on – and if not, who might replace him. If Fine Gael’s wily political fixer decides to go again, and if Leo is still Taoiseach, he should have that second term in the bag. For starters, Phil backed the right horse in the leadership race. And if, as seems certain, there is a general election between now and the appointment of the next commissioner, Hogan will be a key player in Fine Gael’s election strategy.

Should Leo triumph, Big Phil will have his reward.

But if Micheál Martin brings Fianna Fáil over the line, the view in the party is that nothing would please the Clare TD Timmy Dooley more than, one day, being called Commissioner Dooley.

There are some in Fine Gael who say Hogan is not going to run again. “He doesn’t need the money, and he has offers to sit on several boards. The travelling is a killer. He wants to wind down,” says one Fine Gael insider.

“Not at all,” says another, who also knows Big Phil. “He’d love to be back in Europe. He might have found it a bit tough at the start, but he’s flying now.”

Were he to bow out there would be no shortage of takers in Fine Gael. A commissionership would be a nice ending to Richard Bruton’s political career, with the possibility that Brian Hayes MEP, who is returning to live in Bruton’s Dublin Bay North constituency, might slot into Richard’s seat.

Or perhaps, postelection, Simon Coveney might see himself suited to the commission and the capitals of Europe.

Most intriguing of all, in a scenario that is gaining traction here and in Europe, is the suggestion that the Europhile Leo, should he come out on the wrong side of the election, would be a youthful but popular choice in Europe to replace Jean-Claude Juncker.