Daniel McConnell: If Donnelly and Foley can't do the job, Martin must axe them

The Taoiseach of the country should not be micromanaging his ministers, particularly in such crucial departments — the stakes are too high, writes Daniel McConnell.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin delivers an address at Government Buildings.

Watching Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s latest state-of-the-nation address on Tuesday, many people speaking to me bemoaned the gloomy news he was relaying.

Quite a number also mentioned how tired he looked.

Chatting to a number of TDs after the Fianna Fáil parliamentary meeting on Wednesday night, I mentioned that comment to them.

What do you expect, when he is micro-managing three departments, came the frustrated reply.

The strong sense from many within Fianna Fáil is that in addition to running a Government, the Taoiseach is having to, due to the inability of his ministers, play a hands-on role in running the departments of health and education.

Suspicions around Stephen Donnelly’s ability to do the job as Minister for Health are not a new phenomenon, and he has become a lightning rod for criticism internally within the Government and among some officials.

As the Irish Examiner reported, this week’s Fine Gael parliamentary party heard repeated criticism of Donnelly’s media outings in recent days, which only added to the sense of confusion around whether further Covid-19 restrictions are likely in the coming weeks.

At the meeting, senator Martin Conway said Donnelly’s denials in a Newstalk interview that there was no consideration to pausing the return-to-work programme, only for it to happen three days later, was akin to Noel Dempsey and Dermot Ahern’s denials that the IMF were about to arrive in 2010.

As a former Minister for Health, Martin reportedly can’t help but speak over Donnelly at Cabinet, and is increasingly driving the agenda amid what sources tell me is a clear waning of confidence in his minister.

I am told that Martin regularly jumps in to defend decisions when difficult or probing questions are being asked of the minister by Coalition colleagues.

The same thing regularly happens at parliamentary party meetings, where Fianna Fáil TDs and senators have complained that representations are going ignored, or are merely forgotten about.

The concern that “Stephen needs help” was why Martin was willing to stomach the damaging headlines about increasing the pay for Department of Health secretary-general Robert Watt to €292,000 a year.

Since the day he was appointed, Donnelly has faced significant criticism from within his own party as to his suitability for the job as minister in such a crucial department during a pandemic.

And putting it frankly, Donnelly has never successfully addressed the resentment within the Fianna Fáil ranks that he, as an outsider, was promoted to Cabinet ahead of many “lifers”.

While Donnelly has proven he is no political slouch and is to be, on one level, commended for getting himself into Cabinet, the truth is he has very few of his own willing to defend him, or his handling of the ministry so far.

Also, TDs admit it is a frustration and a concern that Martin is having to exercise so much energy to keep the ship afloat and on course.

As for Norma Foley, Martin has had to expend a lot of energy to bolster his education minister during some very trying months.

Education minister Norma Foley has advised parents to consider cancelling birthday parties and playdates. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Much has been made of Foley’s first-time TD status and her inexperience of national politics, plus her propensity to give convoluted responses to simple questions, which tend to be overloaded with civil service jargon.

According to sources, she is an “infrequent contributor” at Cabinet, and Martin regularly will take it upon himself to answer tricky questions when they are asked.

The running joke among some ministers is that if you didn’t know Micheál was once education minister, you’ll know all about it within five seconds.

At times, some ministers say Martin is more than happy to be seen as the Minister for Education, the Minister for Health, and Taoiseach, all at the same time.

Since he assumed the leadership of Fianna Fáil, he has been seen as a very controlling leader, micro-managing and incapable of allowing others to take the strain.

There was a school of thought that for many years he was the grown-up dragging his inexperienced front bench with him, as if he was on his own.

There is the other school of thought that Martin, so heavily reliant on his core team of advisers, simply cannot fathom loosening the grip, for fear things will go wrong.

While it may have been possible to lead an opposition party in such a centralised manner, it is impossible to successfully run a Government that way.

It is neither desirable nor sustainable that he seeks to do so.

If his choices of ministers are not up to it, then he either needs to equip them with the tools to enable them to be so, or he needs to remove them. The stakes are simply too high.

Donnelly, as health minister, has a pivotal role to play in the nation’s response to Covid-19, and Martin is open to the charge that he made a mistake putting a novice into the position.

Health minister Stephen Donnelly TD has faced criticism from within his own party. Pictured: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Something is clearly afoot. It was pointed out this week that Martin and Donnelly have not held a joint press conference in over a year. Given their respective roles, that reality is incongruous.

As for Foley, she got into Cabinet as she was the designated female choice, even though Anne Rabbitte had been part of the Fianna Fáil team that negotiated the programme for government.

This was a week when the narrative around the response to Covid-19 became political — party political.

The closure of the pandemic unemployment payment occurring on the same day as the renewed restrictions being announced was highlighted by both the Labour Party and the Social Democrats, who also focused in on the continued foot-dragging on antigen testing and the lack of a plan when it comes to ventilation.

The Government’s communications this week were, yet again, chaotic and confusing.

Why did Foley feel the need to give the impression on radio on Thursday that children’s birthday parties should be axed?

It is not the job or business of any Government to tell parents what the right thing to do is. Neither was it in any of the formal advice issued by the Government the day before.

Even the normally astute Damien English strayed into that territory on Claire Byrne’s The Friday Gathering by saying kids shouldn’t go to three playdates.

Minister of State for business, employment and retail Damien English on a visit to Cork County Council's Business Growth Hub. Picture:  Brian Lougheed

Where again is this arbitrary milestone of appropriate behaviour coming from?

The pandemic has shown us, for good and for bad, that when the communications are clear, the public will, on scale, buy into the message. When the messaging is muddled, chaos reigns.

Now, perhaps having such direct input from Government Buildings into the key departments of education and health is a good thing. On an official level, such oversight and drive is perhaps appropriate.

But the Taoiseach micromanaging in the manner that he clearly is, is a poor use of his time. He has a country to run.

At the end of the day, having appointed both Donnelly and Foley, perhaps he feels duty-bound to protect them, particularly in light of having already lost Barry Cowen and Dara Calleary as ministers.

With a “difficult winter” ahead for us all, the last thing the country can afford is to have a Taoiseach distracted by attempting to do the job of others.