It’s tough when the old band breaks up.
But the show must go on.
Danny Healy-Rae enters his old stomping ground alone.
He sits in the back row of the narrow side-section where once he occupied a seat at the front. A man from Cork with impressive hair is there now.
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That’s Ken O’Flynn, newest member of Independent Ireland. His bandmates used to be part of Danny’s rural combo back in the day before the general election.
It seems Danny is going solo now – not that he wants to. Deputies are flowing into the chamber now.
Micheál Martin arrives for the first Leaders’ Questions of his second stint as Taoiseach with new Chief Whip, Mary Butler, following behind. Mary looks like she means business.
As the benches fill, a black-capped figure appears in the doorway. It’s Michael Healy-Rae making his debut from the other side of the floor because he’s playing with the Coalition now.
He gets as far as Mary Butler then seems unsure about where to go next.
She smiles and directs him to the end of the row where the Ministers of State are sitting.
[ Elderly man died after medical equipment failed during Storm Éowyn, Dáil toldOpens in new window ]
Danny watches his brother hurry around the Government benches to take his place next to Charlie McConalogue, the former minister for agriculture.
It’s not so long since the Healy-Rae brothers howled in unison at him and his policies. Now Charlie and Michael are ministerial colleagues.
Before the Ceann Comhairle commences proceedings, Eoin Hayes, the novice deputy cast adrift from erstwhile bandmates in the Social Democrats over shares he held in a company with links to the Israel Defense Forces, sits in next to Danny.
This is the lonely corner.
Deputies stand for the prayer and moment of reflection. Michael removes his cap and bows his head. Danny scans the tiered seating for his old band members.
Michael Collins and Richard O’Donoghue, old Roaring Independent muckers, are now ensconced with Ken in the front row he used to call home.
Brother Michael is across the floor with the ordinary Ministers of State and the Super Junior Ninja Ministers.
And across to his left, Carol Nolan and Mattie McGrath are sitting alongside a new group. God be with the days when Danny and Mattie and Michael were the troublesome trio rocking the front row of the rollicking Roaring Indos.
As break-ups go, it has been a messy split.
It was hard not to feel a little pang of sympathy for Danny, although Michael didn’t look entirely comfortable in his new berth on the accountability side of the house either. But at least he had the Lowry splinter group of Independent-at-heart junior ministers for company.
After the furore over their appointments they didn’t look entirely at ease in their new surroundings either. They’ll get used to them very quickly, though.
Nor was it the most comfortable Leaders’ Questions for the Taoiseach.
Opposition leaders zeroed in on housing and gave him a concentrated clobbering. They followed up with withering assessments of the Government’s response to Storm Éowyn and a tidy slating on the decision to appoint even more super junior ninja ministers.
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald dismissed his Coalition’s inflated figures for the number of new builds in 2024 as “a load of bull. And you know it.”
[ Government housing figures ‘a load of bull’, says Sinn Féin leaderOpens in new window ]
From last summer, the figure of 40,000 new homes was being trumpeted as the final figure for overall completions. The Opposition questioned this from the outset. But the Government held firm on its prediction and stuck to the figure up to and during November’s election.
Which was convenient.
The number of completions in 2024 was just shy of 30,000.
Cian O’Callaghan of the Social Democrats and Labour’s Ivana Bacik took the same tack as Mary Lou: the outgoing coalition (and now the current Coalition) stuck with that higher figure for obvious reasons when emerging information from public bodies painted a different picture.
But some major players in the construction sector also predicted close to 40,000 houses, said the Taoiseach. And hindsight is a great thing.
The figure was simply untrue, pointed out the Opposition.
“It was a genuine belief,” insisted Micheál. “It was not an attempt to mislead anybody.”
Genuinely. “I’m very, very disappointed,” he said. “Very, very disappointed.”
Those targets were real.
He has been spending too much time with Michael Lowry.
[ Defamation Bill among planned laws to be revived in new DáilOpens in new window ]
And speaking of Government formation, those talks were on the Taoiseach’s mind when the Soc Dem deputy leader asked why he had “disregarded the hard data” on housing completions from bodies such as the Central Statistics Office and said his answer was one of the weakest he has ever heard.
Micheál, stung, hit back.
Labour and the Social Democrats were “extremely poor” on housing when they met. “No fleshing out.”
“You didn’t even know what was in our housing policy,” spluttered Cian.
Micheál elaborated.
“One of your main contributions at that meeting was – and I remember it well – I remember well you looking at the clock, at the watch: nudge, nudge, time to get out to make the six-o’clock news for the soundbite.”
Cian looked a bit stunned.
Government backbenchers perked up considerably.
The Taoiseach wasn’t finished.
“That was your contribution. That happened. We saw it on our side: nudge, nudge, look at the watch, better get out to make the six-o’clock news.”
His backbenchers burst into applause.
“Answer the question,” shouted Cian, but he couldn’t really be heard above the racket.
The backbenchers were delighted. It has been a tough few opening weeks.
A vote was called on the order of business. Danny Healy-Rae rose from his seat and wandered around the outer rail but stopped before the Government section, where his brother is now in situ.
He backtracked to where Michael Lowry was sitting, tried to attract his attention but couldn’t. He attempted to alert Carol Nolan and Mattie McGrath, but they didn’t notice him. So he leaned over the rail and flapped his paper file on the wood panelling. No response from Lowry.
Eventually, Danny managed to catch the eye of Brian Stanley, the former Sinn Féin TD who is now an Independent. Brian nudged Lowry on the arm and Danny got his audience.
The Government won the vote.
Getting back to normal.
Michael Healy-Rae came in at one point and read a speech on the storm on behalf of the Government to a handful of people in the chamber.
He raced through it. No drama. And left soon after.
Business as usual.
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