A fascinating version of First Among Equals played out on Thursday morning in Leinster House at a meeting of the Dáil reform committee.
And how considerate it was of the Social Democrats to mark Christmas by providing their rivals across the House with a good laugh to end the political year.
Back in January, the SocDems found themselves a man down when the new Dáil started, having suspended new TD Eoin Hayes from the parliamentary party in December for giving incorrect information about when he disposed of shares he held in a company with links to the Israeli military.
Both the SocDems and the Labour Party entered the 34th Dáil with 11 seats each, but when Eoin was banished to the Independent benches on his first day, Labour were placed second in line in the Leaders’ Questions pecking order after Sinn Féin.
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This rankled with the SocDems because, while both parties won the same number of seats, they claimed to have won more first preferences and their last TD to be elected got through on a higher count than Labour’s last TD to be elected.
But Eoin, meanwhile, languished in a corner of the chamber far removed from his erstwhile colleagues, sandwiched between the kindly Danny Healy-Rae and amiable Barry Heneghan.
The SocDems showed no interest in repatriating him while, temporarily clasping him to the party bosom in April so they had the numbers to bag a coveted committee chair position.
He was eventually readmitted to the fold before the summer recess, despite some strong internal opposition. Still, at least the party could move on and leave the unpleasantness behind.
But no. The SocDems still wanted to leapfrog Labour at Leaders’ Questions. Having pushed the issue at Dáil reform committee meetings, the question came to a head this week.
After some hard politicking, it seemed the party struck a deal with Paul Murphy of People Before Profit and Michael Collins of Independent Ireland in return for ceding some of their speaking slots earlier in the week when the Taoiseach is present.
And they would support the SocDems proposal to win speaking supremacy over Labour.
The technical groups got their concessions and some better slots in the first vote.
But there was a row between Labour and the SocDems over who should have priority. The Government members of the committee, including the Chief Whip, broke for 10 minutes to discuss the matter.
Sinn Féin abstained and the Government voted for Labour.
Foiled again, even with Eoin Hayes back in the ranks.
Why did the Government go for Labour? It might be because since the almighty row over speaking rights in January, there has been no formal pairing arrangement between the Government and Opposition.
Pairing happens when a coalition TD or minister can’t attend a vote due to pressing government business or a personal issue and an opposition TD doesn’t vote to cancel the advantage. This year, some results have been as tight as six votes.
This will present big problems in the second half of next year when the government has the European Union presidency. Ministers will be required to chair EU meetings for that six-month period and there will many other pressures on their time.
One Government insider feels this had a bearing on what side it backed on Thursday and why Labour is still first among equals in the fierce rivalry between the two parties.
“It would be fair to say that while there are no formal pairing arrangements, some groups have been more helpful than others in understanding how the parliament works and they’ve been more flexible in their approach. That might have swung Thursday’s committee vote.”
Ministerial trio return from selling Ireland to the Arabs
Welcome back, boys.
Peter Burke, Darragh O’Brien and Robert Troy are back from their trip to the Middle East where they were selling Ireland to the Arabs at Wednesday’s inaugural meeting of the Ireland-United Arab Emirates Joint Economic Commission in Abu Dhabi.
Burke, the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, led the delegation with O’Brien, Minister for Climate, Energy, the Environment and Transport. Troy, the Minister of State at Finance, completed the trio.
They had an extensive programme of engagements and meetings during their visit. Having travelled so far, it would be a shame at least one of them didn’t manage to fit in a little trip to the Dubai Grand Prix last Sunday.
For two of the Ministers it must have been like old times (although we are not sure if they shared the same aircraft this time out).
Three years ago, the then minister of State Burke shared a flight to Abu Dhabi with Darragh, who was minister for housing at the time. Peter was on St Patrick’s week duty and bound for Japan – with a stopover in the UAE, while Darragh was on his way to the Dubai Expo.
The pair made the headlines because the minister of State and his private secretary flew business class all the way while his senior colleague and his two aides were billeted down the back in economy on the seven-hour flight.
This time around, did they both enjoy the same travel arrangements or was Darragh put in steerage again? As for Robert, was he bumped up like Business Class Burke or did they just stick him in the hold?
Fine Gael TD’s outbreak of bad Grace over Luas outage threatens to derail Coalition harmony
It was a bumpy landing back in Dublin for Darragh O’Brien, who is now the Minister for Transport. Nothing to do with his flight and more to do with Fine Gael’s increasingly batty relationship with social media.
While the party is far from alone when it comes to turning out toe-curling and tone-deaf content, it leads the field in the production of overcooked political ham.
This week’s culprit is enjoying a political out-of-body experience beside Trinity College Dublin while fervently hoping that the Government Minister in charge of transport would do something to avoid the “fiasco” and “chaos” visited on Dublin city’s transport system when a power outage immobilised Luas trams.
Grace Boland, the Fine Gael TD for Fingal West, was out without her coat bright and early on Wednesday morning and doing a piece to camera while walking around College Green looking at trams and backed-up buses.
Having established that she was on the scene of this dreadful transport screw-up, which has resulted in the grounding of two trams and “at least 11 buses having to stop their journey”, Grace said. “That is why I’m calling on the Minister for Transport and the Luas operator to urgently investigate ways to stop this scenario repeating, including looking at Nice where they use similar trams but have onboard battery capability.”
Hmmmm. Would Grace, a member of governing party Fine Gael, know anyone who might help?
“Chaos on Dublin Bus. Chaos on the Luas and many frustrated commuters” fumed Grace, adding this was just one example of the problems besetting Dublin’s transport network.
“Not good enough, and we have to do better,” she said.
If only Fine Gael were in government.
Oh. Wait.
We hear that Darragh O’Brien, the Fianna Fáil Minister for Transport, was absolutely furious when he saw the video posted online by Deputy Boland, a Coalition colleague and fellow Fingalian from north Dublin.
He made his view known at the highest levels. Now there is talk of the Government Chief Whip, Mary Butler, getting involved in what is seen in Fianna Fáil circles as gross insubordination in the Coalition ranks.
Phone lines between the Taoiseach’s and Tánaiste’s office were burning, with one of Micheál Martin’s top advisers phoning up one of Simon Harris’s top advisers to complain about this outbreak of bad Grace from their so-called partners.
Who is going to tell them about Maeve O’Connell, the Fine Gael TD for Dublin-Rathdown?
On Thursday, the day after Grace did her thing, Maeve surfaced in St Stephen’s Green. At least she was wearing a coat and a scarf as she walked beside the trams and talked about the two-day ordeal being suffered by the commuters of south Co Dublin.
“I’m calling on the Minister and TII [Transport Infrastructure Ireland] to ensure that we have put contingency plans in place so when events like this occur, everybody can get where they need to go.”
Another tone-deaf Fine Gael TD experiencing another out-of-Government experience.
Darragh O’Brien is fit to be tied.
Can’t blame him, really.
TDs and senators go the extra mile for Goal
TDs and senators were run off their feet at one point on Tuesday but they recovered quickly and went back to their normal work.
It was the occasion of the first ever Leinster House Goal Mile and a cross-party group of TDs and senators pulled on their running shoes to raise funds for the global humanitarian aid charity and remind people to sign up for this year’s Christmas runs around the country.
The event was organised by Labour TDs Ciarán Ahern and Duncan Smith, with the course conveniently situated across the road in Merrion Square. The politicians ran two laps of the park in less than optimal conditions, but while Storm Bram forced the nearby Christmas tree lighting ceremony indoors from Leinster Lawn, the valiant runners refused to be blown off course.
Jennifer Farrelly, the new chief executive of Goal, gave them a motivational pep talk before the start, while businessman and Goal Mile veteran Liam O’Brien came along to offer support. There will be at least 200 mile runs around Ireland over the Christmas period.
Deputy Ahern is a long-time supporter of the charity and has organised a 10am run in Knocklyon on Christmas Day.
Tuesday’s starting line included Minister of State Neale Richmond (breaking in a new pair of trainers) and his party colleague James Geoghegan; Fianna Fáil’s Shane Moynihan and Senator Alison Comyn, Sinn Féin’s Pa Daly, John Brady and Darren O’Rourke. Ciarán and Duncan’s Labour colleague Senator Nessa Cosgrove also togged out, as did party leader Ivana Bacik, who ran in her boots.
Fine Gael TD Maeve O’Connell, wearing heels, walked the course.
The politicians hope to make the Leinster House Goal Mile an annual event.
