Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his trusty sidekick Jack Chambers are working hard to rebuild bridges in the parliamentary party after their disastrous decision to impose Jim Gavin as Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate.
After last week’s emotional five-and-a-half-hour clear-the-air parliamentary party meeting, Micheál and Jack have set about demonstrating that they have listened and there have been learnings.
During that stormy meeting, James O’Connor, the Cork TD who is a thorn in his leader’s side, said he had never made any effort to make people feel involved.
So Chambers of Commerce pitched up in the Members Bar at lunchtime on Tuesday, full of chat. Then on Wednesday, he arrived into the bar with Micheál, who was in full schmooze mode.
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“Circling the wagons, but with no great confidence” is how one observer saw it.
The Taoiseach has also taken a leaf from Leo Varadkar’s book and is inviting groups of backbenchers to Government Buildings. Individually or in groups of up to four.
“Tea and biccies,” one disillusioned Soldier of Destiny sniffed. “And tours of the building for people too. Like they were never asked inside before. It’s a joke. Asking them how they feel and stuff like that. But no real discussion.”
It might be a wise move for Micheál not to ask any of them how they feel today or for the foreseeable future.
Because it’ll take more than tea, biccies and a waltz around the marbled corridors of Merrion Street to get them back onside when they see the dire results for Fianna Fáil and for Micheál in this morning’s opinion poll.
Going to the country once meant something else
Waxing lyrical about the good old days, when times were hard and families were massive but everyone was happy even if they hadn’t a pot to piss in, is all the rage.
No presidential candidate worth their salt would take to the campaign trail without a decent back story.
Catherine Connolly was one of 14 children. Heather Humphreys grew up a Presbyterian on a small farm on the Monaghan border.
Jim Gavin didn’t really have one and look what happened to him. Although we see somebody trimmed around one of his posters and plonked it in a hedge in west Dublin.
Now if only Jim had said he grew up in a deciduous hedge-house with no warm clothes so he joined the Air Corps at the age of 10 for the uniform, he might still be in the race.
Take the unsuccessful hopefuls who didn’t make it on to the ticket.
Billy Kelleher grew up on a farm in Cork and when he was nominated to the Seanad by Albert Reynolds, he was so poor he had to sell his kidney to the local butcher so he could purchase a donkey and cart to go up to Dublin.
Gareth Sheridan worked back-breaking weekends on a Heineken farm in rural Terenure.
When Maria Steen was born, life was so tough in the Badlands of Ballsbridge she slept in a Balenciaga bag until her bassinet arrived.
As a child, Seán Kelly stitched footballs by candlelight in the family’s humble bothán on a small holding in Knockataggle, surviving on soup made from boiling the aromatic socks of Kerry footballers. It was thick and nourishing and he became president of the GAA.
And now Minister for the Arts Patrick O’Donovan is getting in on the act. Maybe Patrick is thinking of having a tilt at the Arás sometime in the future and wants to perfect his story early doors.
On Wednesday morning, he was at the National Museum in Collins Barracks for the launch of its Changing Ireland exhibition. It is well worth a visit, showcasing a wide and wonderful array of objects selected to represent Ireland over the last 150 years.
There’s everything from Michael Collins’s slippers to a steam press from the Magdalene laundries, from Mary Robinson’s inauguration suit to Rory Gallagher’s favourite guitar and all else in between.
The Minister got carried away on a wave of nostalgia after viewing the hundreds of exhibits of display.
“There was 13 of us in the house when we were growing up. We had one toilet. If you were a boy and you had to make number one, you were told to ‘go to the country’,” he told bemused journalists at a media doorstep afterwards.
“When I remember the 1982 elections – there was three of them – and Haughey talking about ‘going to the country’.
“Garret FitzGerald was a great icon of mine, even though my Mother, the Lord have mercy on her, had a great time for Charlie Haughey. But I liked Garret FitzGerald, he had the curly hair.
“Well, I always felt: if it’s good enough for Charlie Haughey and Garret FitzGerald to take a piss outside, it’s good enough for me.”
Like Haughey and FitzGerald, Patrick has “gone to the country” on a number of occasions since becoming a TD for Limerick County in 2011, but only in the political sense of fighting a general election as far as we know.
Although, politicians are often accused of taking the piss when they go to the country and make extravagant promises.
The Minister (48) was asked if there any objects he would like to see in the exhibition?
“Twenty Gold Flake, 20 Carrolls and five bags of Taytos. That was my order when I went to the shop as child.”
Insomnia helped McCullagh put book to bed
It’s been a busy time for RTÉ’s Six One News anchor David McCullagh, who will take over RTÉ Radio’s flagship midmorning current affairs slot next month when long-time presenter Claire Byrne returns to her broadcasting roots in Newstalk.
The journalist and historian has also just completed his latest book. It was launched on Wednesday evening by the former British Ambassador to Ireland, Paul Johnston.
From Crown to Harp tells the fascinating story of how Ireland peacefully broke from Britain and became a republic 16 years after the Treaty was signed.
This is David’s sixth book – others include biographies of Éamon de Valera and John A Costello.
On the night, he said he thought it would be better not to ask a politician to perform the launch in case it was interpreted as a bias towards the presidential candidate they supported.
“Though, as it happens, I could have asked the Taoiseach.”
A timely bout of insomnia gave him the impetus he needed to finish the book.
“Waking up at five or six in the morning, I decided I might as well get up and work away. Once I was finished I thought that was the end of my early mornings. But, as it turns out, it was just practice for my new timetable.”
The idea for this book came from colleague Miriam O’Callaghan. When David was leaving the Prime Time presenting team, she gave him a gift of the official handbook of Saorstát Éireann, published in 1932, and it got him thinking about how the Free State saw itself and its link with the Crown.
David was joined by his wife, Anne-Marie, and daughter Rosie – on a flying visit from London – and he dedicated the book to his parents Robin and June, who never miss a launch.
A large RTÉ contingent turned up at Hodges Figgis bookshop in Dublin for the occasion including director general Kevin Bakhurst, O’Callaghan, Bryan Dobson, Sharon Tobin, Eileen Whelan, Brian O’Donovan and Paul Cunningham.
From Crown to Harp: How the Anglo-Irish Treaty was Undone 1920-1949 is published by Gill Books
Man from Del Monte says yes to Eoin’s new look
Eoin Hayes, Social Democrat TD for Dublin Bay South, is the gift that keeps on giving.
After all that unpleasantness over his disposal of shares in a company with links to the Israel Defense Forces, which saw him banished from the bosom of the party and exiled to the independent benches with Danny Healy-Rae and other rural types, Eoin has finally been accepted back into the fold.
Of course, there was that little hiccup over a student escapade years ago when he dressed up in blackface in tribute to his idol, Barack Obama, and occurred the wrath of the perpetually offended.
All is calm now.
But he still managed to raise some eyebrows in Leinster House this week at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Tourism and Employment.
It was hard to concentrate on what he had to say because he was wearing a dickie bow.
Nobody bothered to tell Eoin that Man from Del Monte jackets can only be worn during the summer season, in accordance with the Bernard Durkan rule. When the then TD for Kildare North arrived in the Dáil chamber wearing his cream jacket, summer officially began.
Wednesday was a big day for Eoin, as the Soc Dems marked his full rehabilitation with his appointment as the party’s spokesman on social protection.
He dressed up for the occasion. Empathising with the disadvantaged by repurposing his Confirmation outfit.
Ins and outs of the Dáil
On Thursday, Sinn Féin chief whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn slammed the “Do-Nothing Government” for reducing Dáil sitting hours next week in advance of Friday’s presidential election vote.
He issued an angry press release after that morning’s meeting of the Business Committee when the new arrangements were agreed.
“They have cynically cut the Dáil time in half next week – making Thursday a non-sitting day and Wednesday a half day. This removes the usual time for votes on Wednesday evening to avoid votes that could embarrass them ahead of the presidential vote,” the Donegal TD said.
“Clearly, they are more interested in protecting themselves than doing their job. They are fooling no one. People will see this for what it is.”
Padraig should have been delighted with the Coalition for freeing up more time for campaigning.
Only two weeks ago, at his party’s regular team meeting, leader Mary Lou McDonald told deputies and senators to keep out of Leinster House as much as they possibly could and hit the campaign trail.
On the night of that big Fianna Fáil parliamentary showdown, RTÉ’s Micheál Lehane took a break from live-tweeting leaks from the FF party rooms to pass on a nugget he received from Sinn Féin’s Oireachtas equivalent team meeting in another part of the building.
“The Sinn Féin leader has asked the party’s TDs to only attend the Oireachtas when necessary for the next few weeks and to instead step up campaigning for Catherine Connolly in their constituencies.”
Sure, it’s only the Dáil.
Mary Lou’s troops must have been out and about doing her bidding on Tuesday afternoon during Questions to the Taoiseach. Micheál Martin was somewhat miffed by the party’s poor attendance at the session.
The ructions over the deal he did with Michael Lowry to snaffle opposition speaking time for Government supporting TDs still rankles. The row delayed his election as Taoiseach by a day.
As he worked his way through the questions, he came to the one asked by Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway-Walsh about businesses reducing their carbon footprint.
“To Deputy Conway-Walsh, I would say renewable energy is the key,” Micheál began, looking up from his notes to see no sign of the Mayo TD – or anyone else from the party.
“Deputy Conway-Walsh is gone. I’m kind of alarmed – there were terrible protests about having Leaders’ Questions once a week and so on, but the leaders of all the parties are not here at all.
“There we go. Deputy Conway-Walsh has left after asking her question” he huffed, before executing a rapid about-turn when he saw her slipping back in.
“She’ll be back, I think, to be fair.”
He was a bit embarrassed.
Rose had just nipped out to powder her nose.
“I’m sorry, Deputy Conway-Walsh. I was just saying…”
Too late for outsiders now the favourite is romping home
With such a commanding lead in the opinion polls as the presidential election campaign enters the final straight, independent Catherine Connolly should be home and dry, barring a big disaster.
Students of the turf in Leinster House this week were saying that defeat for Catherine would be a catastrophe on a par with Devon Loch losing the Grand National in 1956. Back then, the Queen Mother’s horse was romping towards certain victory when Dick Francis’s mount got spooked by something and fell.
“Devon Loch can’t lose,” the commentator on Pathé news had cried.
Both sides will be flat out over the coming days.
Connolly’s connections have the finishing post in their sights now.
Meanwhile, the thought of far-left candidate Catherine – who has silkily sidestepped legitimate questions about her political actions and views thus far – getting the keys to the Áras seems to have spurred a late mobilisation by Fianna Fáil politicians.
A successful fightback seems a tall order now.
