Elaine Loughlin: Mary Lou and Simon presented a rare united front this week... but it didn't last long
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou Mc Donald: Fianna Fáil TDs are raging the united Ireland debate was hi-jacked by Fine Gael and Sinn Féin. Picture: Maxwell’s
In rare moment of political consensus, Mary Lou McDonald and Simon Harris were ad idem, not once, but twice this week.
In the Dáil on Wednesday night, the Tánaiste found himself backing a Sinn Féin motion, supporting a move to end the three-day wait time for women seeking abortion, which will now progress to committee stage.
It came just days after Harris made an announcement on Northern Ireland, which has been viewed as a new departure for the Fine Gael leader, especially when compared to the stance he has previously taken since taking on the party leadership.
It's not often Sinn Féin TDs can bring themselves to support Harris or his party's policies.
But one senior member among McDonald's ranks was almost gushing of the Tánaiste and his political epiphany in recognising the existence of the six counties when the matter was raised privately with her in Leinster House.
Shedding the usual political scepticism, the TD was genuinely delighted Fine Gael was now taking more interest in the topic of a united Ireland, regardless of what motives may have been behind the move.
The announcement that Fine Gael is to develop a blueprint for a unified island by November of took more than one Sinn Féin TD by surprise.
Almost immediately, the development had thumbs moving at speed, with messages being fired into a private Fianna Fáil WhatsApp group as members vented that Fine Gael had been allowed to steal the spotlight on the message of a united Ireland.
"F*<k Fine Gael F*<k Sinn Féin , we are Fianna Fáil we are the Republican Party. There would not be peace on this island without us and the leaders we had," wrote TD Erin McGreehan.
She made the point Fianna Fáil had established the Shared Island Unit which is doing "incredible" and "tangible" work but in a dig at the leadership of her own party she added: "The problem is that we are not brought in to drive it enough."
The Louth politician wrote: "We are terrible at harnessing these goals and the passions of our party and the members. It’s up to all of us to sell that. However, there has been a definite curtailment of the raw passionate and compassionate ambitions of our members. Like it’s been unfashionable or something to be true to ourselves."
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Donegal senator Niall Blaney reiterated this, claiming everyone in the party needs to "own" the issue as "being true to and passionate about" a united Ireland is what the party was built on.
Harris had chosen a Fine Gael event to commemorate the centenary of former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald to announce that now is the time for serious engagement on the future of this island, adding the party "cannot be passive observers to change".
He spoke of the need for honest, inclusive and careful planning if "constitutional change" is to happen.
Harris now seems adamant this constitutional change will happen "in our time", stating he believes all political parties are duty bound to make a positive, credible contribution in these preparations.
"Some will suggest this is not the right time. I would strongly refute that," he told the audience on Sunday, which included former ministers Frances Fitzgerald and Richard Bruton.
As a politician who has gained a reputation for talking and working at speed, Harris has promised that the party's new blueprint for a unified island, which will be facilitated by Professor Deirdre Heenan, will be ready for the ard fheis this November.
Around Leinster House this week, many who stayed out of the Fianna Fáil WhatsApp chat agreed with McGreehan that Fianna Fáil has been weak at publicising the work it has instigated when it comes to cross-border co-operation.
TDs pointed to the millions of euro that have been pumped into cross-border projects through the Shared Island Unit.
The unit has been a pet project of Micheál Martin since he established it in September 2020 on entering the Department of An Taoiseach, but the general consensus among members is that it has gained little attention or recognition.
The fact Harris is now dominating the conversation on a united Ireland only exacerbated the irritation of Fianna Fáil, especially given a perceived nonchalant approach to the subject up until now.
Over the years, former Fine Gael leaders have grabbed headlines in relation to Northern Ireland.
Back in 2016 after the Brexit vote, then taoiseach Enda Kenny called on the European Union to prepare for a united Ireland, suggesting "the discussion and negotiations that take place over the next period should take into account the possibility, however far out it might be, that the clause in the Good Friday Agreement might be triggered, in that if there is a clear evidence of a majority of people wishing to leave the UK and join the Republic, that should be catered for in the discussions."
Five years later, then Tánaiste Leo Varadkar delivered a strong speech on the unification of the island, telling the Fine Gael ard fheis he believed it could happen in his lifetime.
But up until now, Harris has taken a less urgent approach.
Last year, after his first official visit to Stormont as Tánaiste, Harris had branded Irish unity a non-priority.
He said there had never been an "Irish head or deputy head who hasn't aspired to a united Ireland but that is not where my priority is today".
He added: "It is not where my priority is in my role as Tánaiste".
The comments were very much in line with those uttered in 2024, when as taoiseach he said the question of a referendum on Irish unity did not “arise currently”.
While the party details a list of core policies, such as 'housing' and 'law and order and defence' on its website, it does not feature a tab on Northern Ireland.
A quick Google search does, however, throw up a policy document featuring a picture of Varadkar and former TD Kate O'Connell which does outline the party's stance on 'Northern Ireland and the future of our shared island'.
It illudes to the fact the "restoration of the devolved institutions needs to happen as soon as possible", meaning it was written before February 2024, when Stormont got back up and running after a 24-month hiatus.
One Fianna Fáil member cheekily suggested the announcement around a renewed interest in Northern Ireland had been made by the Fine Gael leader to deflect from the positive attention health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has been receiving after her victory against private maternity consultants and the master of the Rotunda Hospital.
But Harris was quick to dismiss any such chicanery, claiming his previous remarks and the latest intervention are "really consistent".
A member of his team pointed to the fact Fine Gael is officially called the United Ireland Party, and added Harris had been "thinking about it for quite some time" when asked about how the need for a blueprint was arrived at.
Whatever the motivations, the cross-party harmony was quickly crushed when Harris was pressed on the issue on Thursday.
"I heard the leader of Sinn Féin the other day say, ‘We will pass legislation that will compel the Irish Government’.
“You don't bring about unity by compelling anybody. You bring about unity by listening in the first place.”
“The point I made when I was taoiseach, is the same point I'd make today: Before you get head on into border polls and the likes, you've got to get, you've got to get this right, you've got to do the work, the hard yards."
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