Irish Examiner view: All eyes on upcoming election 

New Taoiseach Simon Harris (centre) with Tánaiste Micheal Martin (left) and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan (right) ahead of a photocall with his newly appointed Ministers of State on the steps of the Government Buildings in Dublin. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Simon Harris’s formal installation as Taoiseach wasn’t accompanied by much blood on the carpets in Leinster House. Change at the very top of government is often accompanied by what is sometimes described as a Cabinet reshuffle, sometimes as a night of the long knives.

When a new taoiseach settles behind the big desk, it is easy to imagine them consulting a list of scores to be settled — and ministers to be fired.

Mr Harris was far more measured in his approach, however, helped no doubt by Leo Varadkar’s departure and Simon Coveney’s decision to step down as minister, which immediately freed up two senior positions. Accordingly, he has brought two junior ministers to the Cabinet table.

In doing so, is the new Taoiseach emphasising continuity and consistency? The Government has perhaps a year to run before it must go to the country, and Mr Harris’s conservative approach to staffing his Cabinet may be his most sensible option.

A left-field or radical selection at this point in the Government’s life cycle could easily backfire: If an inexperienced minister made the kind of error that forces an election then fingers would soon be pointed at the man who appointed that minister.

In the catch-22 of politics, of course, that approach leaves a taoiseach open to accusations of playing it too safe with his selections, and the opposition parties wasted no time in making that very point. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said that with Mr Harris the third Taoiseach of the current administration, this was third time “the Cabinet deckchairs have been rearranged”, a line which might lend itself to another airing in the general election itself.

That upcoming election no doubt influenced Mr Harris’s choices — witness the elevation of Cork North-Central TD Colm Burke to a junior ministry to offset the departure of Mr Coveney from Cabinet, for instance.

Few decisions by this Government from now on will be made without considering their relevance in that election campaign.

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Anyone for another Mass?

Devotees of Father Ted will recall an episode of the sitcom when a visiting priest offers a possible solution to some crisis or other facing one of the main characters: “Is there anything to be said for saying another Mass?”

The recent bad weather has left a lot of water in fields in Ballymaloe, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan

Readers could be forgiven for thinking of that line when news came through of a Mass being said for better weather in Wexford this week.

Kilrush parish priest Fr Joseph Power said he had been approached by a member of the public who asked him to lead prayers for better weather, and he complied. Fr Power said the Mass was well attended but added that the local area had had the “worst day” of rain the day after.

At first glance this story looks decades out of place — it appears to belong to the background of a Frank O’Connor short story from the 1940s, perhaps. The rural location seems to suggest a conservative setting, miles from urban sophistication, somewhere the Catholic Church still holds sway. But, in that context, it was interesting to see another religious ceremony in the news recently, with the announcement that the traditional blessing of the planes at Dublin Airport may be discontinued due to security concerns. There may be more to this story than meets the eye: A secular activist has claimed the tradition has been discontinued because a non-religious blessing was requested, though Dublin Airport has rejected that claim.

However, it is worth pointing out that the blessing of the planes has been carried out annually since 1947 — at Dublin Airport, not in rural Wexford.

The likes of the secular activist mentioned above may be unhappy with the lingering influence of the Catholic Church in Irish life, while other readers may be equally dissatisfied with the Church’s declining power and status in modern Ireland. Yet the planes at Ireland’s capital city have been blessed annually by the clergy for three-quarters of a century, undercutting any glib references to rural conservatism in comparison with Dublin’s worldliness.

That said, the sheer misery of our weather lately may be the main takeaway from this week’s events.

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The cash price put on Olympic gold

A tradition going back to the 19th century will come to an end this summer at the Paris Olympics, when athletics winners will receive a cash prize along with the coveted gold medals.

Paris will hold the summer Olympic Games.

Traditionally, the medals were viewed as reward enough for winners. However, World Athletics is to give each of the athletes who win gold in each of the 48 track and field events $50,000 (approximately €46,000). World Athletics will extend the cash prizes to Olympic silver and bronze medallists at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

The International Olympic Committee itself may yet object, but it is difficult to see how World Athletics can be prevented from awarding those cash prizes. The new development provides an intriguing comparison with cases such as that of US athlete Jim Thorpe, who was forced to return the gold medals he won at the 1912 Games when it was revealed he had briefly played professional baseball (though he was reinstated as Olympic champion after his death).

The Corinthian spirit of the Olympics was smothered long ago — problems ranging from State-sponsored doping, performance-enhancing drugs, and nations commandeering the Games for political ends saw to that. However, there is still something disappointing — and a little grubby — to see a price put on an Olympic gold medal.