Mass movement was a popular theme on Tuesday. In the Dáil, Gerry Adams worried about the national bus system. Ruth Coppinger was outraged at the jailing of anti-water charges protesters. Outside on the plinth the future of Aer Lingus was explored by the Minister for Transport and his Fianna Fáil opposite number.
In Ennis, TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly were up in court charged with entering a restricted zone at Shannon Airport. Their case continues and a nation holds its breath, waiting to see if the judge will grant Wallace's request and give him back his rope ladder.
Back in Leinster House, the slowly unfolding saga of IAG’s bid for Aer Lingus commanded most interest.
One annual instance of mass movement was overlooked: the recent publication by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the St Patrick’s Day destination list for Ministers and Ministers of State. Michael Noonan will be the only one left at home in Ireland on March 17th.
If the weather holds up for the photos, it might be an ideal time to launch a coup, particularly as the water meter installers will be on a day off, leaving the protesting Facebook flying squads at a loose end. There should be plenty of them about, although the four people jailed last week for defying a court order would have to purge their contempt if they want to make it out in time for the national feast day.
Coppinger, a Socialist TD, is outraged by the “incarnation” of these people.
"How far is this Fine Gael and Labour Party Government willing to go in a vain attempt to break the mass movement against the water charges?" she asked the Taoiseach.
“Just how isolated your Government is from the lives of ordinary people was graphically demonstrated last weekend at your Fine Gael conference in Castlebar, when you had to surround himself with not one but two rings of steel, 10ft-high fences and a phalanx of gardaí and security . . . ”
"And Bernard Durkan, " chimed in Independent TD Finian McGrath, for completeness. Across the floor, Bernard puffed up with pride.
The permanently outraged Ruth fired a series of questions at the Taoiseach, throwing in an obligatory reference to Denis O’Brien as her ultimate villain of the piece. She hadn’t any time for the Government’s so-called democratic revolution.
“Does it not look more like what it is – a Government which has bled dry ordinary people to feed the greed of bankers and the financial markets, just as you are shamefully assisting in throwing to the wolves the people of Greece who are suffering the same fate?”
Affront to right to protest
Enda’s attempt to “criminalise the movement against the water charges is antidemocratic” and “an affront to the right to protest”, she said. With this in mind, would he join with the Anti-Austerity Alliance in demanding the immediate release of the four protesters and desist in his efforts to criminalise them? Would he abolish the charges now or wait to be “obliterated” at election time?
The Taoiseach shot Coppinger down on all fronts. He said the people who were jailed knew exactly what they were at and, furthermore, it seemed to him the deputy was inviting people to break the law.
“The law of the land is the law of the land, and the courts are completely independent of this House and they make their decisions. In this case the judge was crystal clear,” he said.
And while she might think the treatment of the protesters unfair, he accused them of “terrifying young families” by demonstrating at the homes of politicians.
"What's that got to do with it?" asked Joe Higgins. "Water protesters' tactics," said Emmet Stagg. Kenny and Coppinger will never agree.
“The point is that while peaceful protest has always been part of our democracy, contempt of court is not,” said Kenny.
Whether Adams will be encouraging disobedience on the buses is another question. “Bus Éireann’s decision to axe almost 100 routes on its Expressway service represents a huge setback for citizens in rural Ireland” said the Sinn Féin leader. This is a major blow for people living in rural areas.
Enda replied with what Gerry called “a blizzard of detail”. The Taoiseach sounded like a Tannoy announcement in Busáras as he read the ins and outs of various routes into the record. The Government would soon be unveiling a €4 billion rural aid package, and transport would be part of it.
"The only thing you brought to rural Ireland was the Fine Gael Ardfheis" snorted Fianna Fáil's Barry Cowen. However, concerns had been expressed about the Kilkenny route, said the Taoiseach, and as a result the service was to continue until summer. Would this have anything to do with the impending byelection, wondered Opposition deputies.
“This is the most anti-rural Government ever,” roared Michael Healy-Rae. The Ceann Comhairle told him to keep quiet as it was not his question. “You’re not deputy Adams.”
“No, I’m not,” retorted Healy-Rae. “I shave.”
