Giddiness as TDs and senators escape Leinster House for Easter recess

Good morning.

The Dáil rises for its Easter recess today, and it won’t return until after the May bank holiday weekend. TDs and senators will next convene on May 8th, although the Cabinet is only taking one week off.

An end-of-term atmosphere hung over Leinster House this week, with parliamentary party meetings either cancelled or sparsely attended. The appearance of Bono in the Dáil chamber yesterday to witness a speech by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, added to the giddiness.

From her vantage point in the press gallery, Miriam Lord revelled in the "highly entertaining" scenes as TDs and senators lined up for selfies.

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“Not since the Senators made a holy show of themselves in front of first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon have there been such scenes,” says Lord.

Beneath the relative calm and merriment, the political focus has shifted to the local and European elections, taking place on May 24th, and campaigning for both will intensify after the Easter break. A number of other issues will consume politics after the recess, too.

The past few days saw Taoiseach Leo Varadkar finally confirm the €3 billion cost of the much-delayed National Broadband Plan. Varadkar's statement in the Dáil on Tuesday - which was followed by the Opposition during Leaders' Questions yesterday - was cast by Government sources as the Taoiseach preparing the ground for the final announcement of the rural broadband scheme after Easter, once Cabinet has given it the go-ahead.

The Government, assisted by Sinn Féin and some Independents, also tried to guillotine the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill in the Seanad yesterday following extensive filibustering in the Upper House, led by Michael McDowell. Senior Government sources afterwards said they will attempt to bring the guillotine - which had heretofore been unused since the last general election - down on the Bill again after the recess.

And then there is Brexit. Much of Europe, it seems, has taken its lead from Jean Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, who this week said he was on a Brexit break. Last week’s decision by the European Council to offer the UK an extension to the article 50 process until the end of October has offered some respite.

Yet Theresa May does not want the UK to take part in European parliamentary elections at the end of May and will likely make another push to pass the withdrawal agreement through Westminster after Easter to secure Brexit before Europe goes to the polls.

Her prospects of success in that endeavour look slim, although polling showing increasing support for Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party may inject some urgency into the talks between the Tories and Labour to find a cross-party deal.

Simon Carswell reports today the DUP is targeting English Brexit-supporting voters with Facebook adverts seeking financial support.

Enjoy the break, the hot cross buns and the chocolate eggs.

Your Inside Politics will resume business on May 8th.

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