School’s out for summer.
Some TDs are skipping lightly home with their end-of-term report cards. Others are losing their schoolbags and hoping nobody notices.
It’s no big thing this year. Continuous assessment is how it goes in politics; and where the class of 2025 is concerned their Dáil and Seanad journeys are just beginning. The general election may have happened last November, but business in both Houses of the Oireachtas only started in January.
Business proper took months to get going thanks to the mammoth opening schmozzle over Independent deputies who signed up to support the Government muscling in on the Opposition’s speaking rights.
READ MORE
The row derailed Micheál Martin’s big day in the Dáil when his election as Taoiseach had to be abandoned amid chaotic scenes in the chamber.
The rules were tweaked to allowed these Independents, along with Government backbenchers, a chance to table questions to the Taoiseach directly after the Opposition’s slot.
The controversy, which considerably delayed the working of the Dáil, has blown over for now, although the backbenchers and Independents’ attempts at grilling the Boss have been such a damp squib one has to wonder why they bothered making such a fuss about it in the first place.
But this episode will be not forgotten by the Opposition.
Unlike most of the term which followed.
Just seven Bills have been enacted this year. That first one was a vital piece of emergency legislation, nobody said.
It allowed the Government to increase the number of Junior Ministers on its books to mob proportions and festoon five of its domesticated Independents with Super Junior status.
The committees are only getting into their stride now.
The sluggish start didn’t give politicians much of a chance to shine. Much of the new intake barely got a look-in. Maybe some of them might have the makings of a report card by the end of the year.
In the meantime, here’s a few who made it on to the summer prizegiving list for their performance so far.
Top of the class: Jim O’Callaghan
Traditionally, this tends to go to a party leader. But none of them has had a stellar start. The politician who has stood out in what has not been a particularly competitive field so far is Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan.
He has proved the most proactive member of Cabinet so far, he doesn’t tend to waffle and his Dáil performances have been measured and conciliatory.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is a close second in a very difficult portfolio.
Best senator: Michael McDowell
He’s been at this politics lark forever now and maybe there are other Seanad performers who deserve a look in, but Michael McDowell has had a great term.
Still busy on the legislative front, still the best speaker in the Upper House and still happily batting away the bouquets from people who want him to run for president.
He was first senator elected to the 27th Seanad, topping the poll in the National University constituency.
No wonder he’s been padding contentedly around the Leinster House campus, smiling like a Chesire Cat.
Opposition best boy: Alan Kelly
The former Labour leader is full of beans these days and when he isn’t asking probing questions about Garda accountability (he seems to have a terrific source or two), he’s happy out chairing the showbiz Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.
Guaranteed a few headlines there and AK-47 isn’t going to miss them.
Opposition best girl: Jennifer Whitmore
The Social Democrat TD for Wicklow is more low-key than best boy Kelly, but that’s not a bad thing. Jennifer is consistently good with her contributions across a range of issues and her Leaders’ Questions clash with constituency colleague and Tánaiste Simon Harris on the last day of term showed she can mix it with the best of them as she called out a Government of “epic wasters”, which was “reckless and feckless” with a giveaway budget before the election, but was now “moralising” about financial restraint.
Another Opposition TD who doesn’t go in for showboating is Sinn Féin’s Pat Buckley (Cork East) who is very considered and thoughtful in his contributions, particularly on social issues.
Fianna Fáil’s occasionally difficult backbencher John McGuinness also had an excellent term. He was elected Leas-Cheann Comhairle and had the satisfaction of hearing the State apology to Lucia O’Farrell, who had long campaigned for the truth surrounding the death of her son Shane, who was killed by a driver out on bail.
McGuinness was one of Lucia’s staunchest allies all through the years when most TDs had moved on.
Cutest hoor in class: Micheál Martin/Michael Lowry
This is a tie between Micheál Martin and the Independent deputy formerly known (by the Taoiseach) as the disgraced TD for Tipperary North, Michael Lowry.
Hard to imagine that Micheál once told the Dáil that Michael was not fit to be a member of that august house after the Moriarty tribunal found that Lowry, a former Fine Gael minister, attempted to help businessman Denis O’Brien secure the State’s second mobile phone licence in 1995.
This didn’t stop the Taoiseach striking a deal with Lowry and his group of Regional Independent TDs who became, in the words of Mary Lou McDonald, “the wobbly leg of the Coalition stool”.
Micheál bagged a cohort of supporters with benefits who will remain loyal once they are minded, further cementing his Government’s grip on power. As he will probably bow out at the next election, if not before, the Lowry stroke won’t come back to bite him.
As to the kingmaker formerly known as the disgraced deputy for Tipperary North, he’s thrilled with himself. He couldn’t look happier if he was giving the two fingers to that Dublin socialist, Paul Murphy.
Mr Congeniality: Cian O’Callaghan
The acting Social Democrat leader never seemed comfortable with the tricky situation surrounding prodigal TD Eoin Hayes, who pulled off a shock victory for the party in Dublin Bay South only to be exiled from the parliamentary party for misleading colleagues over when he got rid of shares he held in a company with links to the Israeli military.
On one of the many occasions Cian was asked about the party’s on-off relationship with Eoin (he came in very handy for ballast when they needed an extra body for committee appointments), he declared awkwardly: “I said hello to Eoin just last week.”
Happily, word came through on Friday that the suspension has been lifted.
They have killed the fatted calf and now they can all say hello to each other whenever they want now.
Prizes for honesty and courage: Minister of State and Chief Whip Mary Butler and Sinn Féin senator Nicole Ryan
During statements on Pride Week, Mary was one of many TDs to speak on the subject. But as it was the penultimate day of the Dáil term, those statements got very little attention.
The Fianna Fáil TD for Waterford said she was speaking not only as a Minister, “but as a proud mother, ally and advocate for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in Irish life. I am especially proud of who I am and who my family is. My son is a transgender young man and seeing him grow into his own identity reminds me daily of the urgent need for compassion, dignity and fairness in public policy.
“Sometimes the debate in relation to trans issues rages on social media without facts or understanding. It can be very hurtful. We should all reject those nasty opinions from people who do not understand the hurt and pain for young trans people who have to navigate a difficult enough pathway in their lives.”
Cork-based senator Nicole Ryan was loudly applauded by her colleagues in the Upper House for her moving contribution during a debate on the Domestic Violence Bill.
She told how she witnessed domestic abuse as a child, living in a violent home from the age of four to seven.
“As a child, when you’re developing through that stage, it shapes how you see the world” she said. “For two decades, I lived in the shadow of shame.”
She learned how to read people. “I would know the kind of mood that he’d be in by the way that his foot crossed the threshold of the front door.”
Her mother escaped, “but none of us got out unscathed”.
Senator Ryan said she was sharing her story “to stand up for all the other young children that are out there that are living in these homes”.
Best gaffe: Darragh O’Brien
The Minister for Transport wowed all the guests at the British Ambassador’s summer garden party with a lovely speech made all the more enjoyable by the many nice things he had to say about his friend Jonathan, His Majesty’s envoy to Ireland.
Except that the ambassador’s name is Paul.
Second place in this highly contested category is Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty, for delivering a high-decibel, passionate speech in the Dáil about rip-off grocery prices, fulminating about Irish-owned grocery chain SuperValu being owned by a major American food distribution company.
He was one of three SF speakers who made the same mistake, having been fed the wrong information in their supplied scripts.
Most unexpected controversy: skorts
The row over allowing elite camogie players to choose between wearing shorts or skorts ended up in the Dáil. Minister of State Charlie McConalogue had to deal with it.
“It is important that they come together to find a resolution that is comfortable for everyone,” he wittered, oblivious to the reason why the athletes rebelled in the first place.
Most unexpected venue for the launch of a presidential campaign: The High Court
Michael Flatley’s declared intention to run for the Áras was revealed by his barrister during a High Court case the choreographer has taken in relation to works carried out at his Castlehyde mansion in Co Cork.
Flatley is even going to move back to Ireland in the coming weeks to push for a nomination.
Rookie error prize for thinking out loud: James Lawless
As he confidently breezed through a radio interview with RTÉ’s Justin McCarthy at the end of June, the Minister for Higher Education addressed the one-off cash support which students heading to college had enjoyed for the last three years.
To fee, or not to fee, that is the question. Well, James?
He revealed that student fees “as things stand” were likely to go up by a whopping €1,000.
Chaos ensued.
It could have been worse for James as angry constituents piled around the country with complaints about higher fees. But when Fine Gael began muttering about the increase, pressure eased on the Kildare North TD.
Amid talk of a rift between the two Coalition parties, the FF deputies circled the wagons around James and rallied to his defence. (Even if they were privately raging.)
