In the week that Fianna Fáil’s report on the Jim Gavin presidential election campaign debacle failed to land, it was brave of Micheál Martin to have himself photographed manically gripping the steering wheel of a bus while grinning wickedly like a soap opera psycho.
It’s a mad-looking snap, made all the more bonkers by the looming presence of Simon Harris and his mobile phone in the eerily lit gloom behind the Taoiseach and Helen McEntee’s smiling side profile radiating from the shadows further back.
Team Micheál posted the picture online on Thursday night.
Have they no sense?
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Epic Coalition trolling.
“I’d say a fair few people have been found under that bus already, including Jim Gavin,” snorted one Fianna Fáiler upon viewing the image. “They should interview it for the big report.”
The Taoiseach, meanwhile, headed off to Hensol Castle in Wales for the British-Irish summit, where he got to rub shoulders with Keir Starmer and muck about in a bus from the hugely popular Welsh-based sitcom Gavin and Stacey.
The gathering focused on supporting the creative sectors across the UK and Ireland, which explains the Gavin and Stacey tie-in.
“Tidy start to the British-Irish Council Summit in Wales!” was the caption on the picture of Micheál looking like he was about to drive everyone off a cliff.
“Tidy” is a slang word for great in Wales. Not so much in Ballincollig.
Tánaiste Simon Harris later posted a picture of himself with the star of the series, Ruth Jones, after they managed to drag Micheál off the coach and go inside for dinner.
Never not at it.
The freshly minted Minister for Finance gave a hostage to fortune during the week when he told the Irish Daily Mail he will be keeping a steady hand on the economic tiller.
Asked how he personally intends to approach his new job, he said: “You can be assured that Prudent Paschal has been replaced in the Department of Finance by Simon, who will be sensible.”
Sensible Simon. He’ll have to hope the moniker – or something similar beginning with the letter S – doesn’t come back to haunt him.
Back in Wales on Friday, there were a lot of meetings to get through before the politicians could take off for the weekend. But in Hensol Castle, the business of hospitality continued apace.
Much to the delight of several eavesdroppers at the end of the final press conference, one of the Taoiseach’s aides was overheard reassuring Micheál that he wasn’t to worry because he had cleared his room, packed up all his stuff and had it taken away safely.
“Did you get everything?” an anxious Micheál was overheard asking him. “Did you get all my toiletries as well?”
It seems the conference was running overtime but the hotel needed him to check out of his very nice accommodation as soon as possible.
So his aide saved the day.
“They needed your room for the mother of the bride, who’s arriving any minute now.”
Space is at a premium in the Dáil chamber at the best of times.
This presented a seating-plan headache for the Government Chief Whip and Leinster House authorities in advance of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s address to the Joint Houses of the Oireachtas on Tuesday.
Where to put everyone?
Members of the Seanad cannot sit in the chamber when the Dáil is in session. If they wish to observe proceedings, they must do so from a curved rail running above the back row.
But as this was a shared event, they could sit alongside TDs in the seats many of them would dearly love to occupy on a more permanent basis.
When president Zelenskiy was escorted through the chamber to a specially constructed railed dais at the Ceann Comhairle’s chair, he was assailed by members keen to shake his hand.
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Some politicians, as reported here on Friday by Jack Horgan-Jones, were unhappy with the “over the top” security arrangements in Leinster House. Ironically, the biggest danger Ukraine’s wartime leader faced during his Irish visit was the possibility of having his arm torn off by over-enthusiastic TDs and senators desperate for a grip and grin.
The ground-level front row, with its pull-down, spring-up cinema-style seats, is not as prestigious as the Government Front Bench behind it, where the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and ministers reside. On the day of the visit, it was stacked with first-time Fianna Fáil backbenchers.
As Zelenskiy began his final approach to the dais past the head honchos on the Front Bench, they threw back their shoulders and prepared to greet him. But the oblivious president homed in on the newbies in the front row, who were absolutely thrilled.
Which is more than can be said for the ministers.
Meanwhile, Senator Anne Rabbitte, a former Fianna Fáil Minister of State, found herself sitting above in the outer margin looking down at her former ministerial comrade in arms, the now Chief Whip, Mary Butler. Anne was placed out of sight of the cameras and the action.
But when the president entered to massive applause, Senator Rabbitte, in her splendid isolation, was closest to the door and she warmly welcomed him to the chamber.
“It must be seating by age” texted an Opposition deputy observing the Government ranks across the floor. “They have all the shiny, telegenic young ones in the front and the aul lads like Wille O’Dea and Pat the Cope up at the back.”
One keenly awaited feature of these visits – and it’s not an initiative of the Department of Health – is Clapwatch.
Who did and who didn’t applaud the honoured guest?
No surprises when People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett and Paul Murphy didn’t applaud for Volod, although they joined the standing ovation. But also, very pointedly not clapping, was Danny Healy-Rae – neither before nor after the speech.
At the end, the Kerry TD rose and instinctively began to applaud with everyone else before realising his mistake and quickly ramming his hands into his pockets.
The Ceann Comhairle’s opening remarks were well crafted and well received, and Verona Murphy even managed to shoehorn in a reference to New Ross in Wexford by way of JFK’s visit to Ireland in 1963.
The closing speech from the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad was equally eloquent, but it was noted that Mark Daly managed to make himself a big part of it.
“There is no ‘I’ in Seanad but there is in Cathaoirleach,” remarked a waspish FFer afterwards.
Seán O’Feargaíl established the Ceann Comhairle’s fund for Trócaire during his eight-year tenure in the job. It has now become the Oireachtas Friends of Trócaire and the fundraiser’s annual Christmas dinner took place in the Members’ Restaurant on Thursday night.
Fine Gael TD for Wicklow/Wexford Brian Brennan and Drogheda-based Fianna Fáil Senator Alison Comyn joined Deputy O’Fearghaíl in hosting the sell-out event, which Trócaire organises to attract ongoing corporate support for its international development work.
MC for the occasion was RTÉ superstar Marty Morrissey. Performers included Mairéad Carroll, the Kildare-based singer/songwriter, poet and traditional Irish fiddle player, and singer/songwriter Jack L wowed the crowd with his a cappella rendition of Old Man River.
Marty interviewed producer John McColgan about the 30th anniversary of his Riverdance phenomenon and they also talked about John’s charity work with Trócaire down through the years. Opera singer Celine Byrne rounded off a great evening with a spellbinding performance of O Holy Night.
Money raised this year will go towards the organisation’s ongoing work in Gaza.
Step aside Bernard Durkan, the torch has been passed. The nattily attired former Fine Gael TD for Kildare North, who lost his seat at the last general election, was famed for an annual sartorial flourish – his cream linen jacket announcing the arrival of summer.
He was also the reigning champion of the parliamentary question, leading the charge with thousands of PQs put down every year. Oireachtas records show that he asked an average of 2,308 questions annually from 2017 to 2024, sending officials scurrying off in search of obscure facts from the inner sanctums of government departments.
Bernard held the crown since 2016, when Michael Healy-Rae triumphed with 2,502 questions.
But now a new champion of the PQ has emerged in the shape of Cork North Central’s Ken O’Flynn – also a very sharp dresser, it must be noted.
The Independent Ireland TD has put down a whopping 2,123 questions to date this year – he may not get near Bernard’s 2018 record of 2,754 this time, but he has four more years to up his game.
Such is the enthusiasm of his questioning, officials are quietly taking the hump and complaining the system is in danger of being knocked out of kilter, with civil servants torn away from their desks to track down information.
We hear O’Flynn has scotched a theory that he is leaning on artificial intelligence to boost his output – he says he only uses Microsoft’s co-pilot for voice dictation and to clear up the wording of his PQs.
Ken is unmoved by the burden he is placing on the workload of civil servants: “It’s always been my belief that busy is your job, and you’re paid to be busy,” he says. Anyway, it’s only a drop in the ocean: TDs are firing in PQs at a ferocious rate. Perhaps it’s something to do with the enthusiasm of newly elected deputies.
Some 59,039 questions have been tabled to date – the largest number in recent years, beating the 58,587 put down in 2022 and with two months still to go.
