Paul Hosford: Return of the Mc(Entee) enables Varadkar to breathe sigh of relief
Paul Hosford: While everyone acknowledges that both Ms McEntee’s and Further Education Minister Simon Harris’s use of leave for the birth of their children is a positive move for them personally and for the message it sends to the wider community, Mr Varadkar said it left a lot of work for his party.
While all in Government, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar included, have praised the work of Heather Humphreys in taking on the portfolio for the last half a year,
Mr Varadkar pointed to his side being a little short-handed at the Cabinet last Friday.
While everyone acknowledges that both Ms McEntee’s and Further Education Minister Simon Harris’s use of leave for the birth of their children is a positive move for them personally and for the message it sends to the wider community, Mr Varadkar said it left a lot of work for his party.
“We [Mr Varadkar and Ms Humphreys] are both absolutely delighted at the return of Minister McEntee next week because we’ve been a bit short-staffed on the Fine Gael side of Government for a while, between Minister McEntee on maternity leave and Minister Harris on paternity leave, and Minister Coveney out of the country a lot of the time because he has to be.
“We were a team of three and four on regular occasions but it’s great to have the full team back next week and looking forward to getting a lot of work done between now and Christmas.”
If Mr Varadkar was feeling somewhat adrift, it may not have just been the numbers. Sources within the party say the Tánaiste felt “a little let down” over the summer by the lack of full-throated support he received from party colleagues in the wake of the Katherine Zappone controversy, with Fianna Fáil’s Cabinet cohort often more visible in their support of the taoiseach-in-waiting.
However, that frustration has gone both ways, with some backbench TDs feeling Fine Gael has lost its way in the tripartite coalition, leading to parliamentary party meetings becoming more fractious than had been the norm.
Former minister for rural and community development Michael Ring told a meeting last week he thought he had stumbled into the Green Party’s weekly conclave, such was the focus on the environment. Mr Ring said he “did not like what he’s hearing” about the carbon budgets, which he said was harming rural Ireland.
He questioned why Ireland was importing food or briquettes, and said he “did not know what he was going to sell to farmers” on the climate action plan. He also said he was “worried” about the party’s future because of its handling of climate transition.
While some will say that Fine Gael isn’t a party known for its climate bona fides, the comments came just a couple of weeks after a number of his own TDs told Mr Varadkar that Fine Gael had lost its sense of its most sacred of political selling points — fiscal responsibility.
Cork North-West TD and former agriculture minister Michael Creed, and former justice minister Charlie Flanagan raised the issue with Mr Varadkar ahead of the budget, with a comparison to People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett being made.
Of course, of those who have raised issues recently, the most noteworthy seem to carry the title “former minister” a lot. However, it would be too easy to put criticisms of Mr Varadkar’s leadership solely down to sour grapes. In Fine Gael’s position — nine years in government with 35 TDs now — there are as many people who have held at least a junior ministry as have not.
In reality, for many in the party there is a level of criticism coming Mr Varadkar’s way for two things, the first being the party’s dip in the polls. One senior source said that, while polls were just a snapshot of time, “this is about a larger trend”. Having taken 20.9% of first preferences in the last election, the party surged in the polls because of its handling of the early days of the pandemic.
However, as the months have worn on, the lead in polling has become the domain of Sinn Féin, with Mary Lou McDonald’s party holding a 23-5 score in the 28 polls held since last December.
In the four polls carried out in October, Fine Gael had deficits of 10, 10, five and eight percentage points on its presumptive rivals for the taoiseach’s office next time around.
This brings us to the second reason why some in Fine Gael are restless. There are questions over the longevity of the party’s three most senior figures — Mr Varadkar, Mr Coveney and Paschal Donohoe — all of whom could be tempted away to greener pastures at the next election. One senior party figure said that, until the question of the three’s future was answered, which it might not be for some time, the natives would remain restless.
One thing that could focus minds in the party is that Mr Varadkar, far from any perception that he is a beaten docket, is due to become taoiseach again in just 13 months.
He has been somewhat uneasy as second in command, having been taoiseach until June 2020, and there was a feeling in Government last year that he was actively attempting to undermine Micheál Martin — although others put that down to teething problems between the two men, who are said to have a good working relationship.
With Ms McEntee back, Mr Varadkar regains an important voice at Cabinet and a key figure if his party wants to appeal to younger voters. Back at full strength, the next six to eight months will be vital for Fine Gael as it aims to reclaim the taoiseach’s office on as strong a footing as possible to counteract the Sinn Féin tide.
Oireachtas committees advise the Houses of the Oireachtas on a range of specific areas. Committee members include TDs, senators or both.
There are four different types of committee:
- Joint Committee – Comprises members of both the Dáil and the Seanad;
- Select Committee – Comprises members from either the Dáil or the Seanad but not both;
- Special Committee – These are established to examine a specific matter;
- Standing Committee – These are permanent committees required by Standing Orders of either House to be established after a general election.
Dáil business kicks off at 2pm on Tuesday with leaders' questions, where the Taoiseach will resume his running battle with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, fresh from her party's ardfhéis on Saturday. There will be motions without debate on new pay rates for the construction sector, the greyhound industry and EU laws before a 145-minute debate on the extension of Covid emergency powers takes place. This will extend the period under which pubs and restaurants can legally be fined for breaches of Covid rules.
Sinn Féin will bring a Private Members Bill on nurses and midwives before Tánaiste Leo Varadkar takes parliamentary questions in his role as Enterprise, Trade and Employment Minister.
Solicitors Simon McGarr and Fred Logue, meanwhile, will discuss the Information and Tracing Bill with members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children.
Wednesday will begin with discussion of the Independent Group's Credit Union Amendment Bill, before leaders' questions at midday and Taoiseach's questions just after 1pm. A near two-hour session of statements on the recent European Council meetings will follow with the Taoiseach and European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne set to lead off for the Government.
At committees on Wednesday, representatives from the Central Bank will discuss the Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill 2021 with the Finance Committee, while Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority will discuss the National Development Plan at the Oireachtas Transport Committee.
With the environment in sharp focus, Minister Eamon Ryan will take three hours of Dáil questions between his portfolios of Transport and Environment, Climate and Communications.
Later in the afternoon, there will be statements on the report by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission released in September, which found a disproportionate impact on single parents of the housing crisis.
At committees, Junior Housing Minister Peter Burke will discuss the Maritime Area Planning Bill with the Housing Committee.
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