Political leaders and members of the diplomatic corps were among the guests of the IRFU at last Saturday’s Six Nations clash between Ireland and England at the Aviva Stadium.
It was, as the saying goes, a great day for Ireland.
As the game went on, Labour leader Ivana Bacik – Lansdowne Road is in the heart of her Dublin Bay South constituency – thought there was something vaguely familiar about the chap seated next to her husband, Alan, but she was so engrossed in the match she didn’t give it much thought.
He was sitting behind the Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, and was the only spectator in their block shouting “Come on England!”
When the game ended and the familiar-looking man started shaking hands with the people around him, Ivana realised he was the former British prime minister David Cameron.
He met Mary Lou and then Ivana introduced herself as leader of the Irish Labour Party.
“Oh my goodness, I’m surrounded by the opposition!” exclaimed a smiling Cameron, before he was whisked away by minders.
Enjoying the scene from a couple of rows behind was Martin Fraser, Ireland’s ambassador to the UK, and his British counterpart, Paul Johnston, who is a proud son of Scotland.
Meanwhile, Labour held its first parliamentary party think-in of the new term on Friday. Its 11 TDs – seven first-timers, two new Senators and MEP Aodhán Ó Ríordáin – were joined by the party’s 56 councillors. Some of them had never been to Leinster House and had to ask for directions to the ground-floor party rooms. Or the Labour Ward, as it is also known.
“So many new arrivals,” Ivana told them.
Senators jockeying for the cathaoirleach job
When the 27th Seanad finally convenes, one thing is certain: the cathaoirleach will be from Fianna Fáil. The party will have possession of the Chair until it rotates to Fine Gael midway through the Government’s term.
It’s a great job with lots of scope for travel and entertaining and it comes with a tasty €55,886 extra on top of a senator’s basic annual salary of €79,614.
The word in Fianna Fáil is that Mark Daly, who held the position in the last Seanad before it rotated to Fine Gael’s Jerry Buttimer (now a comeback kid Minister of State in the Dáil), looks set to go head-to-head again in an internal party ballot against Senator Diarmuid Wilson for the party’s nomination.
Before the last Seanad, the pair were joined on the ticket by outgoing cathaoirleach Denis O’Donovan. Wilson was declared the winner but, after the count process was queried by the second-placed Daly camp, a second count under a different procedure was undertaken following legal consultation, and the result was overturned.
Wilson, at the ripe old age of 59, is now the longest-serving member of Seanad Éireann. He entered the Upper House in 2002, served as Fianna Fáil whip for 14 years and is now the Father of the Seanad, a venerable title which has attracted considerable slagging from his colleagues.
[ Greater gender balance expected to feature in Taoiseach’s 11 nominees to SeanadOpens in new window ]
There is also talk of Paul Daly, the Westmeath-based Senator first elected in 2016, throwing his hat into the ring.
Fianna Fáil Senators will be under pressure to choose their candidate as the Taoiseach’s 11 nominees were announced on Friday, clearing the way for the new Seanad to start work.
The sooner the better, as far as the Government is concerned, because they need to pass the legislation allowing for the appointment of three more Super Junior Ninja Ministers of State – Timmy Dooley, Marian Harkin and Colm Brophy.
Ringer gets pulled right back in
Michael Ring.
Gone but not forgotten.
The former Fine Gael TD for Mayo, who stepped down from national politics at the last election, was back in Leinster House on Wednesday tying up a few loose ends after 30 years in Dáil Éireann.
“I don’t miss it at all,” he declared. “You just know when the time is right to get out.”
But when the deputies got back to work proper this week it was like he never left at all.
“Sure I’m still getting the texts for the votes. I was in there minding my own business when I looked at my phone and the heart lifted inside of me. I thought I’d missed a vote. Then I realised I’m not a TD any more so it was grand.”
Emer Currie, appointed assistant Government chief whip last week by party leader Simon Harris, will have to revise her list of sitting Fine Gael TDs before the next round of Dáil votes to avert any more palpitations and unwelcome flashbacks for former deputies unnerved by reminders from the whip’s office to get down to the chamber and vote.
As for the Ringer, he eased himself into political retirement by throwing himself into Westport-based Keira Keogh’s election campaign. “Nobody gave her a chance but we worked long and hard to keep the seat and we got her over the bar. And we got Mark Duffy into the Seanad as well.”
And that’s that.
“I’m dismantling the Ring machine now.”
He will be back in Dublin next Saturday to collect his Mayo Person of the Year award at a gala dinner in the Clayton Hotel on Burlington Road.
The awards, organised by the Mayo Association in Dublin, have been running for more than 60 years and the Ringer joins a prestigious list of past recipients including former president Mary Robinson, former taoiseach Enda Kenny, writer and journalist John Healy and Mgr James Horan, the founder of Knock airport.
The judging panel recognised his “outstanding contribution” to his native county over a political career stretching over 45 years at local and national level, writing: “The Westport man’s determination to do his best for ordinary people was informed by his own upbringing as a member of a large family at a time in Ireland when there were few of the luxuries that exist today. His first job was a bread van driver and he later established his own auctioneering business, which was very successful before he closed it to focus fully on his political career.”
Lifting the mugs
Don’t laugh. There are no mugs in Leinster House.
Actually, that’s not strictly true – still a lot of them about but numbers are dwindling rapidly.
Nothing to do with the post-election churn in Dáil and Seanad membership – there is much potential in the mug department among the new intake.
No, it’s the mugs in the canteen.
Not content with purloining the cutlery (catering staff are fighting a running battle against customers snaffling the stainless steel for their al desko lunches), diners are now making off with the porcelain mugs at a terrific rate.
There is a reason for this.
As in any busy workplace, Leinster House does a roaring trade in teas and coffees to go. On Tuesday, the building said goodbye to single-use cups. It was a soft closing – the Dáil was not in session.
With the Dáil back on a busy Wednesday, the well-flagged removal of takeaway cups caused confusion and consternation among some customers. At the start of the day, four large catering trays packed with empty mugs were stacked on the counter.
By Thursday, only two of those trays remained as half of the mugs had gone AWOL.
A hurried email from on high was dispatched to staff about the missing mugs and cups, with a demand for their return as soon as possible. From now on, people will have to use their own reusable cup and the ushers are keeping an eye out for people attempting to carry uncovered mugs of hot liquid through the corridors.
Very stylish keep cups with Oireachtas branding are for sale in Leinster House. They cost €8 each, with the first beverage free and 20c off subsequent refills. Stocks are already running low.
Learning the lingo
Back in 2014, there was much amusement in political circles when Enda Kenny appointed Joe McHugh as minister of state for the Gaeltacht. The then TD for Donegal could barely string a sentence together as Gaeilge.
But the move angered Irish speakers and members of Gaeltacht communities who protested outside the Dáil chanting “Aire gan teanga, Aire gan clue” (A minister without a language is a minister without a clue).
Undaunted, Joe said he would knuckle down and master the language. He was true to his word and it wasn’t long before he was braving interviews on TG4 and Raidió na Gaeltachta.
A decade on and Joe, who stepped down from frontline politics before the last election, is now a fluent Irish speaker and he has written a book charting his often difficult journey towards mastering Irish as an adult.
[ Olwyn Enright steps into key Fine Gael role as husband Joe McHugh exits public life ]
Beidh Tú Alright has a foreword by President Michael D Higgins, who writes: “I hope that Joe McHugh’s account of his personal language odyssey will encourage others to undertake their own ‘aistear teanga’” .
On Wednesday evening, there was a mass exodus of Fine Gael politicians from Leinster House to Hodges Figgis bookshop on Dawson Street for the book launch. Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris performed the honours, joking that the Taoiseach’s Seanad nominees were in the pipeline so there might be a pathway back to Kildare Street for Joe yet.
All of the party’s Ministers, apart from an otherwise engaged Arts, Culture and Gaeltacht Minister Patrick O’Donovan, were in attendance along with most of the parliamentary party. Former attorney general Séamus Woulfe was there, as was Coimisiún na Meán’s media development commissioner Rónán Ó Domhnaill.
Former politicians included Josepha Madigan and Damien English.
After the launch, everyone moved across the road to Lennon’s Yard where the new TDs got down to some serious networking. They will have been keen to talk to Joe’s wife, former TD Olwyn Enright, who is now a big hitter in the Fine Gael back room team.
According to the press release for his book, Joe is “currently completing an MSc at the University of Medicine and Health Sciences at RCSI, with plans to become an executive coach”.
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
