Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael heavyweights are slugging it out in the battle to save Dublin’s live animal crib, which was suddenly cancelled this week in a shock move by the mayor.
There is a striking colour co-ordination to this decision. It was taken by a Green politician who is now being compared to the greeny old Grinch who stole Christmas.
Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy went on RTÉ’s lunchtime news to explain why she shut down the charming Christmas tableau which has run for years in the courtyard of the Mansion House. Her explanation didn’t make great deal of sense and she was very politely eaten alive by Bryan Dobson on behalf of the children who love visiting the crib and the donkeys, sheep and goats, who have lost their annual pamper break at a top Dublin location.
Fine Gael was immediately out of the traps, with Cllr James Geoghegan leading a charge of fellow councillors demanding a rethink. They are tabling an emergency motion at next month’s meeting to have the crib relocated elsewhere in the capital.
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“Not even the Grinch would ban this loved Christmas tradition. We have to overturn this and look for a new location — perhaps St Stephen’s Green. We know times are tough so we want to ensure children and their families have a Christmas crib to visit in Dublin,” said Geoghegan as the party issued a press release headed: “Save the Christmas Crib for Children.”
Minister for the OPW Patrick O’Donovan backed his party colleagues and declared he will be working with the IFA to find a solution.
“The OPW would never want to see Mary and Jesus and the little animals turned away from the inn,” he told us. “I was shocked when I heard the news. Shocked. What next will they try to ban, Christmas trees? Successive mayors never had a problem with this and while I know there are far more important things going on in the world, why take the crib away from the children?
“Children suffered enough during the pandemic, wondering if Rudolph and Santa were going to be able to get to their homes. Let them enjoy this Christmas,” said the Minister of State, condemning the council’s Scrooge-like agenda.
But, in a daring teatime swoop, Fianna Fáil political heavyweight and former minister Mary Hanafin, who is now Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, offered to host the living crib in Dún Laoghaire.
Good counter-move by FF, but not great for the sheep, goats and donkeys who come from Wicklow and would fancy a move less close to home.
This left-field decision by the Lord Mayor has been likened to Labour Senator Marie Sherlock’s attempt last year to clamp down on ice-cream vans in city parks.
The Green Party leader must be thrilled with this latest fiasco to land on his desk. At the very least, his joint chief-of-staff (yes, there are two) Donall Geoghegan, who is married to the Lord Mayor, might have given him the heads-up.
Maybe Leinster lawn outside Leinster House can accommodate the crib. No shortage of asses around, although they may have difficulty finding three wise men.
Sinn Féin’s writ parade
The Sinn Féin ardfheis is fast approaching.
Members of the Oireachtas press gallery are counting down the days. It will be a touching occasion when the hacks and the party bigwigs come together again in the RDS next weekend, having lived apart, more or less, since before the summer.
There may be tears.
Some are finding the lack of political intercourse very difficult. There have been poignant scenes on the plinth every week since the Dáil reconvened at the start of September.
Sinn Féin’s top performers had made that granite platform their own before the recess. A Government Minister couldn’t break wind without Mary Lou McDonald or one of her senior ministers leading a posse to the plinth to make a strong statement. (To be fair, in these cases they may have been rushing out for air as opposed to airtime.)
Sinn Féin regularly tables Dáil motions on big national issues. It always used to be the case, as it still is with other parties and groupings, that the party leader — if available — and other members would join their spokesperson on the plinth to expand on their proposals on the morning of the debate. As the autumn session progressed, the political correspondents saw a noticeable reduction in SF plinth appearances, while the days of Mary Lou sallying forth to face the scrum dwindled and died.
It’s been well over a month since she has taken questions in Dublin from the political correspondents, whose repeated requests for an audience with the elusive Mary Lou remain unanswered. The situation is very reminiscent of the final weeks before the last general election, when the same journalists found it almost impossible to track her down for a doorstep interview while RTÉ and TV3 television news crews were invited to attend selected events.
But never mind. Their disgruntlement will soon be at an end.
Surely rapprochement beckons in the RDS and the relieved hacks will be so overcome with emotion they will forget to fire the questions they were unable to ask during their distressing estrangement.
And will they end the ardfheis in the traditional way with that wonderful, spine-tingling song?
For many, it is the highlight of the day and a fittingly uplifting end to proceedings.
Óró sé de brief a lawyer,
Óró sé de brief a lawyer,
Óró sé de brief a lawyer,
Anois ar theacht an High Court!
Or perhaps they might go for a little bit of Percy French…
Are ye right there Micheál
Are ye right?
Do you think that you’ll get sued before the night?
Oh ye haven’t yet, begorra
They could send the writ tomorra
And they might now, Micheál
So they might.
Sue-sue!
Then again, nothing like an old favourite to send them home sweatin’.
The Men Behind the Lawyer?
Anyone?
I’ll stop now.
Tidy sums well deserved
Panic behind the scenes in the RDS on Friday morning as final preparations were under way for this year’s SuperValu Tidy Towns award ceremony. Officials from the Department of Rural and Community Development were thrown into a tizzy when word came through that a number of groups in the running for prizes might not make it to the ceremony on time.
It was touch and go for entrants from Cork, Kerry and Waterford when their trains were delayed due to flooding.
The Minister, Monaghan woman Heather Humphreys, told the officials not to worry. “Tidy Towns volunteers are hardy souls. Sure they do be out pickin’ up the litter in hail, rail or snow so what do they care about an aul’ bit of flooding.”
She was right. They all made it to Ballsbridge for the main event and the officials were about to relax. Six of the nine main winners were from Cork.
Then there was more drama as the ceremony kicked off and somebody confessed that the envelopes with the winning names might have been mixed up. But everything was sorted and the lovely town of Trim in Co Meath was declared the overall winner, winning its first national Towns Title since 1984.
This year saw the third highest number of entries in the competition since it began in 1958. It was the first full-scale award ceremony since the pandemic.
Heather was in her element as she was doling out money again, this time announcing grants for every Tidy Towns committee the country.
And they deserve every penny of it.
Even the Tánaiste seems to have given up inadvertently running into photographers while minding his own business in exercise shorts
Not losing the run of themselves
There was a time when you couldn’t walk in the vicinity of Leinster House of a morning without risking being mown down by TDs and senators out on a training run in head-to-toe Lycra.
If they weren’t training for a marathon they were training to run up mountains somewhere in aid of charity.
But things seem to have quietened down now. Even the Tánaiste seems to have given up inadvertently running into photographers while minding his own business in exercise shorts.
The Dublin City Marathon is on again this Sunday. There isn’t a great turnout from members of the Oireachtas this year.
Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne will be the only Fianna Fáil politician on the starting line. This will be his 35th marathon — his last one was the Limerick marathon back in May.
Lining out for Sinn Féin is Wicklow’s John Brady. The party’s Foreign Affairs spokesman has been burning up the miles in the last month, running the 30K EcoTrail last weekend and conquering Bray Head, the Little Sugar Loaf and the Great Sugar Loaf along the way. The previous week he completed the Dublin Half Marathon.
Meath West TD Damien English has a few marathons under his belt but he won’t be taking part this year. The Minister of State for Business couldn’t fit the training routine around his busy schedule, but he is determined to get more mileage on the clock. “Roll on next year,” he tells us.
The same goes for Minister of State at the Department of Further and Higher Education Niall Collins. The Fianna Fáil TD for Limerick County has run the London and Paris marathons and countless half marathons but since becoming a junior Minister he hasn’t been able to find the time to follow the full training schedule.
“I reduced to 10Ks now.”
No Labour politicians are taking part, although they have a few runners in the ranks. “They’re saving their energy for trick-or-treating on Monday night,” said a spokesman. But Clodagh Bergin from the press office will be running it for the Abortion Support Network, which supports women who still have to travel outside the jurisdiction for a termination.
Gary Gannon of the Social Democrats was all set to run until he picked up a training injury during the week. Apparently he was carrying a calf sprain due to “repetitive running”. After putting in the hours and the hard yards in the last few months it looked like his marathon dreams were over.
However, he has been to the physio twice since then and has been cleared to go ahead and do it, if he really wants to.
The deputy for Dublin Central is throwing caution to the wind and will be at the start line on Sunday, prepared to run through the pain barrier in his quest to complete the course.
Thoughts and prayers etc.
