Fianna Fáil adapts to life in opposition
“They’re like grumpy aul’ women.” That’s how one source described the FF (female-free) parliamentary party after they held their first meeting this week in their new quarters. The Gang of 20 gathered in their windowless room in the basement of the Leinster House 2000 annex and set about making it a little more homely. This will be achieved by eradicating all signs of Fine Gael’s former occupation. The Blueshirts had prettified their little opposition bunker by painting the party logo on the wall along with uplifting slogans.
In public Fianna Fáil deputies are putting a brave face on the sudden decline in their fortunes. “Once the ventilation works properly we’ll be fine because there’ll be a lot more hot air to extract from the room when the new senators arrive. But it’s not that bad,” insisted a TD, with all the sincerity he could muster (which wasn’t much).
In reality the transition has been difficult. The absence of a Fianna Fáil presence in the chamber at certain times during debates and ministerial questions this week was very noticeable.
This is in contrast to the early performance from Sinn Féin. The party returned to the Dáil with 14 seats, and its deputies are brimming with enthusiasm. The press releases are flooding in, and when Sinn Féin TDs aren’t speaking in the Dáil they are holding press conferences outside the gates and either joining or organising protests.
Fianna Fáil deputies, on the other hand, still seem a little dazed, wandering the corridors as if they have staggered off the set of Lost. The new TDs are not without sympathy for their colleagues' plight.
“I was over at our old offices yesterday and met a former minister. He has to make his own telephone calls now. It must be terrible hard on them,” said a Fine Gael backbencher.
At least they should have their beloved family portraits up on the walls before long. The photographs of former Fianna Fáil leaders that adorned their fifth-floor eyrie for so many years are on their way to the basement bunker. The collection should include the photograph of Brian Cowen that mysteriously disappeared from the wall in the former party rooms, to be replaced by one of Micheál Martin. A Fianna Fáil spokesman said they were baffled by this as they hadn’t had time to hang up a portrait of their new leader.
We hear some giddy Fine Gael personnel, carried away by their lofty new lodgings, may have switched the portraits to reflect the leadership change.
Meanwhile, former minister Willie O’Dea was reportedly miffed that his revelation last Sunday about ministers being presented with the blanket bank guarantee as “a fait accompli” had not been given wider media coverage.
It’s all very dispiriting.
Writing a bonkbuster? Call Bertie
The newspaper business is far less forgiving than the voters of Dublin Central, who looked benignly on Bertie Ahern in the 2007 election when it seemed like he was running out of road.
The News of the Worldgave him a sports column in 2009 but took it from him again in February. The high point of the former taoiseach's journalistic career came not with any of his musings about the Dubs or Manchester United but when he appeared in a television advert for the newspaper speaking from inside a kitchen press.
At least he’s out of that cupboard now.
On the plus side, Bertie has figured in dispatches about a racy political "bonkbuster" written by Kay Burley of Sky News. First Ladieshas been the subject of some rather unkind reviews, particularly for its many sex scenes, which the Guardian's Zoe Williams describes as "exquisitely embarrassing".
Ahern features in the acknowledgments, along with many big names in British media and politics. But readers will be relieved to know that the thanks are for “his guidance on Irish politics” as opposed to advice on the bonkbuster element.
Williams is baffled by Ahern’s inclusion, writing that there is nothing about Irish politics in the novel that you couldn’t have found on Wikipedia. She even disgracefully suggests that Bertie might have paid for the mention. That’s something that would never happen.
By George, no need to bow and scrape, Enda
How does one behave in front of Queen Elizabeth? It’s a question that won’t bother most of us but will have come in for some discussion at Iveagh House in recent weeks. Will Enda bow and Fionnuala curtsey? Will Eamon keep his hands in his pockets? Will there be a diplomatic incident?
It could be a minefield for the protocol people. But at least they have the precedent of Lord Macartney of Lissanoure to guide them.
The Irish peer George Macartney, a Trinity graduate from Co Armagh, was the first British ambassador to China. He caused a furore when he refused to kowtow before the emperor – an exercise that required much bowing and scraping. He declared he would not show more deference to a foreign sovereign than he would to his own. Instead he went down on one knee before Emperor Qianlong, as he would have done in the presence of King George.
And so, taking their lead from Macartney, the advice is do whatever is done when meeting President McAleese. This does not involve bowing and scraping, and a curtsey is most definitely out of the question.
Meanwhile, we hear the queen will spend her first night in Dublin at Wynn’s Hotel, where she will enjoy a full Irish breakfast before departing for a spin on the Viking Splash tour.
She will then repair to a mobile home in Bettystown, the lovely seaside village in Co Meath that bears her name. She has agreed to attend a Fianna Fáil cumann meeting – venue to be announced – as HRH is skilled in visiting the aftermath of tragedies.
There will be a courtesy call to the putative presidential candidate
Jackie Healy-Rae at his pub in Kilgarvan, where she will be introduced to Princes Michael and Danny Healy-Rae. The former Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue will be on hand to give some racing tips for Killarney. There will be a meat tea in Thurles on the way back to Dublin.
It is sure to be a triumph for Mary McAleese, as her presidency nears its end.
** ROBBO RUMOUR As it does, a wild rumour has taken root around Kildare Street, where the talk of a compromise government candidate has been overtaken by speculation that the former president Mary Robinson, who left the Áras before serving her full term, is planning a comeback. Unlike David Norris, who is moving heaven and earth in an effort to secure a nomination, Mrs Robinson is in the enviable position that she can nominate herself. It’s in the Constitution, article 12.4.4, which says former or retiring presidents may become candidates on their own nomination.
Could this be true? Somebody must be busily putting the story about, because our call to Bride Rosney, Robinson’s right-hand woman when she was in the Phoenix Park, was not her first one on the subject this week.
“This surfaced about three years ago, and it’s doing the rounds again. I can guarantee you it’s not true. Definitely not.”
Seanad recall? Forget it, Ivor, say senators
Ivor Callely is anxious to have one last hurrah - in the national interest - before the curtain closes on his Seanad career. Unfortunately, most senators are too busy trying to get themselves re-elected to take much notice of him.
He e-mailed his colleagues on Monday, seeking their support for a recall of the Seanad to discuss the Moriarty tribunal report and financial matters arising from the results of the banks' stress tests. Ivor had already written to the Seanad leader, Maurice Cummins, seeking a recall "at the earliest possible date" to take statements on these "issues of national importance".
But his plea to fellow senators to support his request fell largely on deaf ears. We understand Senator Eoghan Harris, who is not on the campaign trail, indicated he would like to support Callely but was worried he would use the debate to raise his own grievances, as he did during the last recall.
"This unwise move on your part attracted adverse media comment and detracted from the Seanad's constructive work on the two Bills before the Upper House," he wrote in the course of a correspondence that was circulated to senators. "Accordingly, I cannot support your call for a special sitting unless a written guarantee is given to Sen Cummins, and through him to the Seanad, that you will not use the occasion to raise your personal grievances."
Ivor wrote back that he would not be raising his personal issue and would be happy to furnish an undertaking in this regard to the Cathaoirleach.
In the meantime Maurice Cummins had already been in touch. In a brief two-letter reply he dashed Ivor's hopes, indicating he had no intention of recalling the house.
E-payslips would drive TDs to drink
Yesterday's Save Newgrange demonstration, which was to have been held outside Leinster House at lunchtime, was postponed "in order to accommodate a number of TDs who wanted to attend but were not available on Friday". So much for all the big talk about the Dáil sitting on Fridays in the new Enda era.
But maybe some deputies were in the building anyway. They are currently undergoing "e-payslip training". This is to help them make sense of their payslips, which are no longer in paper form.
After getting to grips with such complicated computer matters, TDs will need to go to the members' bar for a drink. There they will be able to see the old photograph of former Irish Nationwide boss Michael Fingleton with members of the Oireachtas golf society that has caused such offence to Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty.
This column first drew attention to the photo of Fingers back in March of 2009, when some deputies thought it should be removed.
The authorities acted swiftly. And left it in situ.
Flowers fly for unsung secretaries
Bouquets of flowers were flying into Leinster House all week. They were tributes to the unsung heroes of Kildare Street, the much-put-upon parliamentary secretaries and assistants who nursemaid their political charges through life in the Dáil and Seanad, and don’t get a lot of recognition for their work. When a TD loses his or her seat, support staff are often out of a job too. Contracts expired for many of them yesterday, and, with many of the new intake of TDs choosing to recruit their own people, a lot were not renewed.
Some assistants, though, were leaving of their own volition. On Wednesday, for example, there was a big hooley in the members’ restaurant to mark the retirement of the Fine Gael parliamentary assistant Margaret Brady. The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, and the Ceann Comhairle, Seán Barrett, were on hand to wish her well after 28 years’ service to the party. Over the years Brady worked for the late Joe Doyle, the former chief whip Jim Higgins, the former TD Monica Barnes and Senator Paul Coghlan. She joined the Mayo TD John O’Mahony when he was elected in 2007.
“She is wonderful to work with, and I’ll miss her,” says O’Mahony. “Over the years she went from a typewriter and telegrams to Twitter. Nothing fazed Margaret.” Sports lover O’Mahony, while disapproving of Brady’s unwavering smoking habit, told the packed gathering: “She is far too important to me to bring her cigarettes, but I noticed the gap was well filled by other deputies who never failed to bring her back a duty-free carton from their foreign travels.” The Taoiseach said Margaret’s father went to school with his own father, emphasising the Co Mayo connection.
RABBITTE’S KHRUSHCHEV GAG While Fine Gael members were in the restaurant, Labour ones were in the bar, toasting their press officer, Tony Heffernan. Former leaders Ruairí Quinn and Pat Rabbitte joined Eamon Gilmore in wishing him a happy retirement. Rabbitte made a funny speech, using the opportunity to roll out one of his favourite anecdotes. The punchline involved the irrepressible Gore Vidal answering the question: “What would have happened in 1963 had Khrushchev, and not Kennedy, been assassinated?”
“With history, one can never be certain, but I think I can safely say
that Aristotle Onassis would not have married Mrs Khrushchev.”
Councillors feel Micheál Martin's love
Micheál Martin has been stepping up the pressure on Fianna Fáil councillors this week as the Seanad election hots up. Ballot papers were issued on Thursday and the poll closes on April 26th.
The councillors, who complained bitterly during the term of the last government that they were being ignored by the party leadership and national representatives, have never felt so loved. Martin has been holding meetings with them in recent weeks, travelling the country in his efforts to get them to support his preferred list of 10 candidates.
“He’s been down two or three times to see some of them,” said a bemused former member of the upper house. “One councillor told him: ‘You’ll be elected to the Seanad yourself if you keep this up.’ ” The burning question now is whether the party leader’s “fair, female and under 40” strategy will work.
While the competition for Seanad seats is intense within Fine Gael, it’s nothing like the dogfight within Fianna Fáil. One Blueshirt on the campaign trail reported seeing the Fianna Fáil leader going into conclave with his troops in Co Roscommon after they emerged from their county-council meeting. While Martin ushered them into a room to tell them how to vote, the outgoing senator Terry Leyden, who isn’t on the list, canvassed them as they passed by. But Leyden was left outside the door when the meeting took place.
One of the younger candidates, who says he is “neither anointed nor appointed”, is Michael Sheehan, who is hoping to take a seat for Fianna Fáil on the industrial and commercial panel. “I think people are looking for change, for fresh faces and for new ideas,” says the Wexford county councillor. “I’ve worked my way up the ranks and got myself elected. I don’t need people to tell me how to vote, and I’m telling my colleagues to have the courage to vote they way they feel.”
Sheehan, who says he is “marginally under 40”, has ordered a consignment of little plastic boomerangs to post out to his electorate. “It’s to inject a bit of fun into the campaign.” The green boomerang says: “With Sheehan in the Seanad, Fianna Fáil will bounce back!”
