The Politics Fix

From an early budget to candidate selection: If that’s not getting election ready, then what is?

Your essential end-of-week politics catch up: Martin lets fly, asking Independent TD, ‘What planet are you on?’

The Politics Fix
Speculation reached fever pitch when Minister for Finance Jack Chambers announced that the budget would be held a week earlier. Illustration: Paul Scott
Jennifer Bray's picture
Jennifer Bray
Fri Jul 05 2024 - 12:55

Story of the Week

It’s all anyone can talk about in Leinster House - the timing of a general election. Speculation reached fever pitch when Minister for Finance Jack Chambers announced that the budget would be held a week earlier. He said the reason for the date being brought forward was to accommodate a meeting of Euro finance ministers, but politicians aren’t buying it. Fine Gael has also set a deadline of September 22nd for all their candidate selection conventions to be completed by. If that’s not getting election ready, then what is? Backbenchers are getting their budget requests in early, with demands worth hundreds of millions stacking up. Now, Central Bank governor Gabriel Makhlouf has called on Chambers to stick to the spending rule the Government set in 2021 – but has since repeatedly broken – to avoid overheating the economy. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (Ifac) and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) have each warned the Government against a giveaway budget. Will all the warnings fall on deaf ears?

That’s all very well but does any of this affect me?

A good question. Taoiseach Simon Harris says, probably quite rightly, that the general public are more concerned about the substance of what the Government is doing that the timing of an election. But instead of politicians knocking on your door next year, you can now expect to them to canvass in an area near you this summer.

Bust up

Tánaiste Micheál Martin let fly in the Dáil on Wednesday at Independent TD Catherine Connolly asking her “what planet are you on?”

He became irate after Ms Connolly claimed that “bit by bit, you’re taking from our neutrality”. She said the Government “suddenly need to get rid of the triple lock” which requires UN, Dáil and Government approval for participation in peacekeeping missions.

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She said there was “no condemnation of Israel in the report, but you do mention Hamas”.

She added that Ireland was supporting “genocide through [European Commission president Ursula] von der Leyen, through your MEPs, who before the election said they would not support her appointment” to continue in the role.

Martin can be tetchy from time to time, but what followed was a furious outburst.

“Ireland recognised the state of Palestine with Spain and Norway, but you couldn’t reference that. You’ve tried to give the impressions that Ireland was a party to genocide. How dare you say that. The self-righteousness of the far left in this country – it really frustrates me.”

Banana skin

In 2022, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly allocated €19 million in scoliosis funding specifically to reduce waiting times and improve spinal and orthopaedic services. Now, he says the funds were not used in the manner in which he had intended and waiting lists remained “unacceptably long, placing a huge burden on the children and young people themselves, as well as their families”. Opposition politicians have labelled this a “scandal” and a “further betrayal” of children affected by scoliosis. The Government will come under pressure to explain exactly how the money was spent, and what the repercussions might be in the coming weeks.

Winners and losers

The British Labour Party are the clear winners, which means the Conservative Party are the losers. By 11am when all but two constituencies had declared their results, Labour had won a huge landslide in the UK election with more than 410 seats. It was a disastrous night for Rishi Sunak, after a similarly chaotic six week campaign. Speaking as the results flooded in, he said: “to the country I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry. I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss.”

Unsurprisingly, he has confirmed he will resign as soon as a new leader is found. In contrast, a jubilant Keir Starmer told supporters: “we did it!”

He talked about “the sunlight of hope”, which was “shining once again on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back”. He added: “Our task is nothing less than renewing the ideals that hold this country together.”

The Big Read

Our London Correspondent Mark Paul has a detailed profile of Labour leader and the new British prime minister Keir Starmer.

We will have extensive coverage across the news section and Weekend Review section of all the results, from Northern Ireland to Scotland and England.

Hear here

In today’s Inside Politics podcast a (tired) London correspondent Mark Paul tells how there was no eruption of joy from Labour but more relief.

There was no sense of this glad tomorrow, because it’s not like 1997. Britain is … entering into another difficult period

—  Mark Paul