New Government is far from a functioning force

Good morning.

It is a strange old time in Leinster House at the minute.

The new Government may be up and running, but it is far from a functioning force.

Ministers are still finding their feet in their Departments, and the Opposition seems to be allowing them the opportunity to settle in.

Legislation is still not on the agenda. We have another week to wait until we learn of the Government’s priorities.

The Seanad is still shut. The committees are not established. No holidays in sight.

Nobody knows how long this minority Government will last, and so TDs from across the House are wary of getting too comfortable in their seats.

Instead it is the issue of Seanad appointments and Leas Ceann Comhairle jobs occupying the minds of our politicians.

Fianna Fail boxed clever during the negotiations on Government formation. They managed to force Fine Gael to suspend water charges, in turn reversing one of Fine Gael's key policy decisions.

They also somehow got them to agree to publish all side deals the party did with Independent TDs in return for their support for the Government.

But even better than that, Fianna Fail managed to secure an arrangement that allowed them to make deals with Fine Gael that never had to be made public.

So you can imagine the shock when it was learned Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin chose three of the Seanad appointees last week. The Taoiseach had 11 nominations to make, and yet Mr Martin made three of them.

A clever move by the Fianna Fail leader, no doubt. But it begs the question what else have the two parties agreed to? It is a situation many in Fine Gael are annoyed or frustrated by.

Not many of them knew about Kenny’s side deal with the leader of the Opposition. Those that learnt about it through the media were less than pleased.

The Taoiseach and Mr Martin, no doubt, have a few more things up their sleeves, but we will surely only learn of them after the event.

Bizarrely (or maybe not so bizarrely), it was not raised at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting last night.

Instead it was the Leas Ceann Comhairle position that was raised with Mr Martin.

Pat “The Cope” Gallagher is vying for the position, but he was told by the party leader he may have to wait weeks to get it.

Maybe the sun has gone to our heads, but if Leas Ceann Comhairle is the thing preoccupying the minds then this minority Government might last longer than we think.

Water, water everywhere . . .

It seems like a lifetime ago since Phil Hogan announced the introduction of water charges.

In the now-infamous press conference in Government Buildings in late 2014 the then-minister for the environment confirmed the roll-out of the levies.

I may be paraphrasing, but the general gist of what he said was: ‘Here are your charges, pay them or else’.

A year-and-a-half later, water is still an issue that infuriates and irritates the general public for various different reasons.

The statement from the European Commission yesterday confirms Ireland cannot abandon the principle of paying for water.

It also is privately warning of daily fines if the levies were abolished.

There are two ways of looking at this. Maybe the Commission is trying to scare Ireland into retention of water charges, and the Dáil should reflect the mandate given to them to abolish the charges.

Or maybe Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s agreement to suspend the levies is wrong and illegal.

Fianna Fáil insists it has legal advice that refutes that but is refusing to publish it.

The party was always foolish to adopt their position on water charges. It was their attempt to steal the clothes of Sinn Féin.

Instead it pushed away middle Ireland - you know, the 950,000 citizens who paid their charges and are now being told they should not have bothered. Maybe this EC warning is a warranted kick in the teeth for the party.