FF behaves like an opposition again

Yesterday in the Dail, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin attacked the Taoiseach for the neglect of rural Ireland - on broadband in particular but on other fronts too.

In a line that stung and was meant to sting, the Fianna Fáil leader said rural Ireland had had enough of his “lecturing from a Dublin-centric Government”. The Fianna Fáil benches were more animated that is customary of late; the Fine Gael benches grumpier.

Last night, Fianna Fáil returned to the attack, with a Private Members’ motion calling for a review of the tender process for the rural broadband scheme, which appears to be more or less coming apart at the seams.

The Government has resolved to press on and ignore the motion even if (as expected) the Dáil passes it. That will be embarrassing, to say the least.

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And, apparently determined to behave like an opposition again, Fianna Fáil has already launched a series of pre-emptive strikes against the forthcoming National Planning Framework and the ten-year capital spending plan, deriding it for ignoring rural Ireland.

This will be a key battleground for the coming weeks. The Government is nervous about the plan, which represents perhaps the most consequential thing it will do this year, and is afraid of legal actions delaying individual projects, as our lead story today reports.

Fianna Fáil knows well the local political dividend that can be realised from big State investment, and is determined to disrupt it.

Having alarmed some of his own TDs (though not so much his own voters, polls say) with his conversion to a pro-choice position on abortion, Mr Martin may feel the need to reassure them that he has not abandoned all the precepts of the True Faith.

He may also, of course, espy political advantage in his portrayal of the Varadkar premiership as a clique of out-of-touch metropolitan elitists. Either way, I rather expect we’ll be hearing a lot more of this sort of stuff, today and every day.

Miriam Lord is on it.

Don’t panic

Global stock markets stabilised a bit yesterday but remain very jittery, and the sense among market analysts everywhere is that something significant has changed: Volatility seems to be the new norm.

Governments everywhere will be watching with concern. In this country, the firm expectation of strong growth for the coming years has been shaken. It’s far too early to say that it’s under threat. But one thing is sure: If growth weakened substantially, it would have a profound effect on Irish politics.

How do we know that? Because it always does.

You may be sure that Paschal Donohoe is watching nothing more closely at the moment, though he’ll take a break from watching the markets to deliver a speech to Ibec this morning. His audience will be paying close attention for any thoughts the Minister has on the current market turmoil.

Suzanne Lynch and Mark Paul's report is here, and Cliff Taylor's analysis is here.

Chris Johns says two things contributed – the rise of automated trading on stock exchanges and the decade-long binge of money creation by central banks

The New York Times says that the era of easy money is over.