Tánaiste forced to weather different kind of storm

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore is a politician who masters his brief.

He spent part of yesterday morning studying the Government’s response to the fallout from the storms and floods in anticipation of being asked about it at his weekly Opposition Leaders’ Questions.

He later encountered a storm in the Dáil chamber, but it was not of the weather variety. Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin chose the bizarre controversy surrounding the possible bugging of the GSOC's offices as their topic. Independent Joan Collins, on behalf of the technical group, tackled him on apprentices being asked to pay college fees. The brief on the weather lay unopened.

There then followed the Order of Business, where issues can only be referred to in a passing way. The Government’s response to the storms and floods was raised.

A tetchy Tánaiste had had enough. He said he could only express surprise that none of the three items at Opposition Leaders’ Questions had referred to the “suffering’’ a quarter of a million household endured following Wednesday’s storm.

“I had prepared a detailed reply in anticipation that some members of the Opposition would consider the plight of these people sufficiently important to have it raised at Leaders’ Questions,’’ he added.

Fianna Fáil's Robert Troy hit back, accusing the Tánaiste of trying to dictate what the Opposition should ask questions on. "It is pure Stalinism.''

The Opposition knew the bugging debacle, in particular, was more fertile political territory in terms of generating chill winds for the Government. The Tánaiste, no slouch in recognising such realities in Opposition, would have understood this in his more reflective moments.

Fianna Fáil's Niall Collins had accused the Government of undermining the GSOC and claimed Minister for Justice Alan Shatter had failed to give a full account of events in the Dáil on Tuesday.

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald outlined a scenario where members of the GSOC were fleeing their offices to avoid surveillance. They were forced to meet in cafes and to stop using their mobile phones, she said. “This is an outrageous situation.’’ Then she went to the heart of the matter. She asked if any State agency had bugged the GSOC offices.

The T ánaiste was clearly in no hurry to reply. He expressed confidence in the GSOC, said the Minister for Justice would attend the Oireachtas committee hearings, and accused the Opposition of politicising the issue.

Time was running out. There were shouts of “answer the question’’ from the Sinn Féin benches.

"Am I satisfied that no organ of the State put the Garda Ombudsman Commission under surveillance?'' he said. "Yes, I am.'' And he sat down.

Political forecasters are predicting the bugging storm will gain new strength in the Dáil next week.

Meanwhile, a bulky brief on the weather is gathering dust in the Tánaiste’s office.