BACK PAGES: Fifteen years ago, the first (and only) coalition government between Fianna Fáil and Labour was heading for a break-up over Taoiseach Albert Reynolds's intention to appoint Attorney General Harry Whelehan to the presidency of the High Court.
The Labour leader and Tánaiste, Dick Spring, opposed the appointment.
The creation of a cabinet sub-committee to review the procedures for making judicial appointments had provided a temporary patch for the disagreements just before this Dáil Sketch by Joe Carroll on the first day of the new parliamentary term.
NOW WE know why Dick Spring does not want Harry Whelehan to be president of the High Court. “It’s because he has a beard,” said Pat Rabbitte .
Dick did not think this was funny. He and Albert sat stony-faced through most of the Opposition’s onslaught on the “Partnership” Government’s wrestling match over the right job for Harry.
Maire Geoghegan-Quinn was sent in to bat for the battered Partnership.
Mary Harney accused Albert of “not being man enough” to face the bowling himself. Mary could remember that when the Greencore affair burst, even Charlie Haughey did not shirk his duty as Taoiseach and took on all-comers.
The normally restrained Chief Whip, Noel Dempsey, could not contain himself. Why was the once detested Charlie Haughey now becoming a role model for the PDs? he shouted.
MGQ, as she is affectionately known by her civil servants, was well able to look after herself.
She left the Opposition and probably her own backbenchers little the wiser about Harry’s future.
She would soon be making proposals on new ways of appointing judges as recommended by the sub-committee on Peace and Reconciliation, as Mary Harney sarcastically dubbed it. Only then would the Government decide on Harry’s future.
With wide-eyed innocence, MGQ asserted the “full confidence” of Labour as well as Fianna Fáil Ministers in Harry as Attorney-General. As for his ability to be a future president of the High Court, well that would be a matter for the Government in due course, but who had said he was “unsuitable”, MGQ wondered to loud guffaws from the Opposition.
But she had the grace to smile as she agreed with John Bruton that breaches of Cabinet confidentiality were to be deplored.
Now who would dream of doing such a thing?
There was a lot of Opposition banter about the “Baldonnel Summit” . The Tánaiste was advised “to stay away from hangars”, a reminder also of his pre-election rally at Dublin airport to win the votes of Aer Lingus and Team workers.
Talking about Baldonnel, John Bruton told the Dáil later that Albert and his Ministers are now making such intensive use of the Government jet that “to the embarrassment of the Air Corps, it is now habitually used as an aerial wing of Fianna Fail”.
Fine Gael was getting stuck in over the handsome 17 per cent increases that Albert (plus £13,900 a year) and the Cabinet recently awarded themselves.
The Government jet costs £5,000 an hour to keep in the air, John Bruton revealed.
The jet is now “consuming almost the entire Air Corps fuel budget”.
Well, it’s nothing but the best for our politicians. The refurbished Leinster House self-service and carvery opened yesterday offering “the best of Irish food prepared under the expert supervision of our new Award-Winning Chef, Mr Giles OReilly”, according to Senator Pat Magner’s welcoming letter.
According to Fine Gael’s Ivan Yates, we now have a “champagne-and-caviar Cabinet”. Senator Pat was not offering that in the self-service, but he wished us all bon appetit anyhow.