The Politics Fix

Trump’s trial verdict tops political agenda overseas, but Palestine is the big story at home

Your essential end-of-week politics catch-up

The flag of Palestine (left) flying outside Leinster House, Dublin, following the decision by the Government to formally recognise the state of Palestine. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

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Harry McGee
Fri May 31 2024 - 14:55

Story of the week

The developments in New York late on Thursday night might have Trumped it in terms of sensation but there is no doubt that the political story of the week (seen through a domestic prism) was the State’s recognition of Palestine.

It took many months of planning. It was carefully calibrated to ensure Ireland did not act alone but did so “in lockstep” with other EU member states – plus Norway, of course. Still, when it happened, Ireland was the first to do it and it was a bold move.

The language in the Dáil on Tuesday was forceful during the four-hour debate, the difference being there was general agreement in the House. Taoiseach Simon Harris even invoked the spirit of John Wayne in saying there was “a hell of a lot more” the EU could do to address the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.

There were worldwide headlines. There was also a David Brent-like dressing-down by Israel of the ambassadors of the three “errant” countries. With her counterparts from Spain and Norway, Irish Ambassador to Israel Sonya McGuinness was made to look at a video of Hamas rounding up hostages, with cameras from the Israeli media pointed at them.

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The politicians were not entirely in full accord. Veteran Fianna Fáil Senator Ned O’Sullivan, a long-time critic of Sinn Féin, said the party could not condemn what was happening in Gaza without condemning those who murdered Detective Jerry McCabe. As Marie O’Halloran reported, O’Sullivan also delivered a contrarian narrative on the conflict during a speech to the Seanad.

He told the Upper House that if Hamas released their hostages in the morning “I believe we would have peace and we would get a ceasefire. Why do they not release their hostages? They are treating people like animals in caves, we do not know what they are doing. Their parents and their families do not know if the hostages are dead or alive. Let us talk about that in this House. Let us have a bit of balance”.

Bust up

It was a close call for this one too, but the winner in the end was the most alliterative put-down of the year.

During a debate on Ireland’s neutrality and the triple lock mechanism for deploying peacekeeping forces, Minister of State Sean Fleming looked at the three TDs from People Before Profit sitting on the Opposition benches and said: “I don’t know what planet you have been living on. The world has changed since the last general election. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine,” he said.

“I have listened to Putin’s puppets over there today and this is a story of Putin’s puppets versus the people of Ireland.”

Paul Murphy was out of his seat quicker than a sprinter out of the blocks demanding he withdraw the remark. Bríd Smith was also on her feet and took the baton.

“I want you to withdraw the accusation that we are Putin’s puppets.”

Michael Ring, who was in the chair, found it difficult to control the shouting.

Fleming qualified his comments but that had the impact of doubling down on what he had said.

“I did not direct my comment at any individual but if the hat fits wear it.”

Then Danny Healy-Rae got involved in the rolling maul. The Dáil was suspended.

After the resumption Fleming half withdrew the remark with an apology/non-apology.

“I withdraw the remark in the event as a result of some members feeling that the comment was directed at them, which it wasn’t specifically.”

Bust up 2

There was another contender, and that was the, erm, difference of opinion between the President and the new Chief Rabbi on what Michael D Higgins had to say about claims of anti-Semitism in Ireland. In a protest outside the Dáil, Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder said the climate in Ireland now was “one in which many members of the Jewish community here feel deeply isolated and hurt”.

He said he and other senior members of the Jewish community had met President Higgins the previous Friday.

“For much of the hour we spent together, President Higgins lectured us about the atrocities being committed by Israel in Gaza,” he said.

He said the only thing the President had taken from the meeting was that many Irish Jews were against aid being prevented from being taken into Gaza. He said that was undoubtedly true but that President Higgins had not taken other important points from the meeting.

“Why does he still fail to accept the affinity that the vast majority of Irish Jews feel with the state of Israel?” asked Weider.

Banana skin

Oh my gosh. What is it with the national children’s hospital (NCH)?

In April 2016, then minister for health Leo Varadkar said that, “short of an asteroid hitting the planet”, the NCH would be built by 2020.

Now, it was disclosed this week, the project has been put further back and will not become operational until October 2025. And nobody is holding their breath that that’s actually going to happen.

The NCH project has been bedevilled by delays and overruns, with costs now running close to €2.5 billion. There have been continuing disputes between the board overseeing the project and the main contractors, BAM.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin did not pull his punches when blaming BAM for the delays. He claimed the company had “not resourced this project sufficiently for quite some time”. Speaking in the Dáil, he said the contractor had delayed the project, and called on BAM “to resource the site adequately and comprehensively to enable this hospital to be completed as fast as we possibly can”.

Winners and losers

Winner: Michael McDowell. His birthday was during the week. Not only did he get a cake from Julie Lyons and the caterers in Leinster House, he was serenaded by Danny Healy-Rae on melodeon, by Senator Victor Boyhan, and by a big contingent of women visitors from Kerry and Limerick in the Dáil restaurant on Wednesday.

Loser: There can be only one. Donald Trump. A 12-member jury found Trump guilty on Thursday of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to an adult film star to prevent her from revealing details of a 2006 sexual encounter in advance of the 2016 US election. He has now been convicted on felony charges, which will surely have an impact on the US presidential election. While his base is outraged, and we know how divided the US is, surely the notion of a felon in the White House is a big ask for middle America’s voters.

Big reads

This Saturday there will be the double treat of Miriam Lord’s column and that of Pat Leahy, who was praised for his well-knotted ties in the letters pages of The Irish Times last week (unlike the rest of us riff-raff). We have three big reads profiling the Euro constituencies. Conor Gallagher is looking at some of the right-wing candidates who are putting themselves forward for election.

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Hugh Linehan is joined by Harry McGee, Cormac McQuinn and Jennifer Bray who, after weeks travelling the highways and byways of Ireland in the company of hopeful local and European election candidates, are here to answer questions about what is happening on the ground. Do rural voters really blame the Greens for everything? Is Sinn Féin really struggling? Will the migration issue really help candidates like Niall Boylan? And what is the incredible new technique for reaching voters who aren’t at home?

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