The Politics Fix

Immigration and borders bring Fianna Fáil slugfest and a Laurel and Hardy pratfall for Sinn Féin

Your essential end-of-week politics catch up including Simon Harris’s over-reach on solving asylum seeker camping

the politics fix
Asylum Seekers in Dublin: On Thursday night another 30 tents appeared further west in the canal. Photograph: Collins
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Harry McGee
Fri May 10 2024 - 13:35

Story of the Week

It was the week when election posters were allowed to go up. But what was up faster than any James Geoghegan, Emma Blain, or Rory Hogan, or Hazel Chu poster in the leafy suburbs around the canal were the tents.

As recently as the end of April when the encampment around Mount Street was cleared, Taoiseach Simon Harris said there would be no further recurrences and no more “adhoccery” in terms of dealing with the asylum seekers.

But within days of Mount Street being cleared another unofficial camp site sprang up on both sides of the Grand Canal between Mount Street Bridge and the Huband Bridge.

The Taoiseach was asked if this was another Mount Street. No, no, he insisted. This was different. Mount Street was there for months. This had been in place for days. Sure enough, the authorities moved in very quickly on Thursday morning to clear the site. It was very early. One Afghan man to whom I spoke to goes to pray in the Mosque every morning at 5.30am. By the time he returned to the Grand Canal, his tent was gone.

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Problem sorted? Not quite. On Thursday night another 30 tents appeared further west in the canal, with all likelihood that it more asylum seekers with tents will arrive there on Thursday. Harris’ comments this week have become flintier, people have noticed, and he is increasingly saying that recurrences will not be tolerated.

Bust up

We are used to middleweight division verbal-cuffs between the Government and Opposition and there is one of them below. But a heavyweight slugfest between two party colleagues – who are standing in the same election and are running mates.

Okay. Hands up. ‘Friendly’ rivalry between constituency colleagues is a regular occurrence in Irish politics. The two Moynihan clans in Cork North West, and Michael Smith and Michael O’Kennedy in North Tipp, had a very healthy dynamic between them.

The latest blow-up is between Fianna Fáil candidates in the Midlands North West constituency, Niall Blaney and Barry Cowen. Blaney took exception to comments made by Cowen in an interview with Jennifer Bray calling for spot checks on the Border for illegal immigrants.

The Donegal Senator said Cowen’s comments were ill-judged. He added fuel to the first by saying he was “angered” that a Dáil deputy would suggest that, in the wake of the Belfast Agreement, “this in only a problem on one side of the border”.

Cowen was a bit nonplussed by the criticism. He responded that Blaney had got the wrong end of the stick and had taken the comments out of context.

That’s all very well but does any of this affect me?

This is always the hardest section of this weekly test of knowledge for us political correspondents! I struggle when I’m asked to ‘Líon isteach na bearnaí'.

Because in a way, everything that happens in politics affects us in one way.

The one I chose in the end was a lovely story and also raised an issue about something that I thought until now had no affect on anybody but which in fact affects people in an unintended way.

It was written by Marie O’Halloran. The headline read: Election poster cable ties ‘a torture’ for Tidy Towns groups, Dáil hears.

The Minister for Rural Protection warned political candidates to take down the cable ties when taking down their posters after the election. Or else.

“The ties are a torture for the Tidy Towns, I can tell you,” she remarked.

You have been warned.

Banana skin

When making a polished video for Sinn Féin several weeks ago, little did the Cork TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire know that what he was actually doing was a Laurel and Hardy type pratfall.

Ó Laoghaire stated in the video that Sinn Féin was opposed to open borders. The party has explained it has included that line in its statements to counter social media comments from rival that it was in favour of open borders.

But by solving one problem, he created another. The Belfast Agreement got rid of the Border between north and south. This is a cardinal issue for Sinn Féin and for all other supporters of the Belfast Agreement.

However, when a party says it opposes open borders, does that include the border between this State and Northern Ireland.

That was the interpretation of Simon Harris who seized upon the video and ran with it, and accused Sinn Féin of “not being in favour of open borders” between North and Stouh.

“Which open border on the island of Ireland does the Sinn Féin leader want to close, he asked in the Dáil?, he asked faux innocently, and directly referencing the video.

Cue pandemonium and much heat. Ó Laoghaire was beside himself, claiming that what Harris had said was “factually untrue”.

Winners and losers

Winners: Trinity College Students’ Union which was successful in its blockade/protest calling for college authorities to sever its connections with Israeli companies. TCD relented after five days.

Losers: Simon Harris and his over-reach on resolving the issue of asylum seekers camping in the city centre.

The Big Read

Jack Horgan-Jones has a big take on RTÉ in the Saturday edition.

Required reading: Pat Leahy’s column, Miriam Lord’s column.

Hear here

Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin was very clear when asked on Wednesday’s Inside Politics podcast about the characterisation of his party’s policies as more new Labour than Corbyn Labour:

You couldn’t be more opposed to what Blair did or indeed where Starmer is on those key issues [health and housing]

—  Eoin Ó Broin
Inside Politics by Audience Team