A happy Taoiseach
Enda Kenny was in Longford on Thursday and had a smile on his face as wide as the county itself. And why wouldn’t he – a holiday resort being announced that would create 1,750 jobs, exchequer returns due out later that day that would confirm the first surplus in the coffers in seven years, not to mention the fact the water charges protest outside the announcement numbered less than a dozen people.
An Taoiseach visited the Coillte forest where Center Parks, a UK holiday resort company, plan on building 500 lodges, a giant swimming pool, retail units, restaurants and more than 100 activities. Enda Kenny was relaxed, playfully doing some sort of ‘peek-a-boo’ behind a tree with the Chief Executive of Center Parcs, Martin Daly – the man who is bringing all these jobs to the midlands.
(NOTE: Requests to do some sort of jumping over logs in the woods were quickly refused by the handlers - Enda couldn’t be seen to be too excited after all)
The Taoiseach’s speech was the standard great welcome for this development - the benefits to tourism, recapping how the economy had recovered and the Government continues the work of recovery. But spotting yours truly and a few more national journalists in the front row, Enda Kenny decided he’d give us a little bit more. He went off-script and talked about the tax cuts coming in the next budget. Here we go again I thought, another reminder about tax cuts that have been mentioned now more times than I’ve received pay packets. But then suddenly came some new information.
“I just want to say this here in Ballymahon. Whatever tax reduction capacity the Government have as we prepare for budget 2016 will be based on giving priority to those between €30,000 and €70,000. But it will also be within the safe parameters that you’re not going to make people pay for promises that you can’t keep in terms of taxation for years ahead”
Tax cuts in the last budget benefited everyone – so higher earners got as much as those within what Enda Kenny calls ‘the middle’. If the focus next time around is going to be on taxpayers up to €70,000, then that suggests that those earning more than that could be facing a hike in their Univeral Social Charge.
I proclaim... or maybe not...
The Taoiseach’s week hadn’t started all that well. He’d visited Krusty Bakery in Dublin to launch a consultation on new Fine Gael policy for Small and Medium businesses. Reporters were asking questions about a launch later that evening of the commemorations next year for the centenary of the 1916 rising. And what does Enda declare – the drafting of a new proclamation – yes he did!
What the Taoiseach said about drafting a new proclamation #ntfm https://t.co/AJINNi62eM
— Páraic Gallagher (@paraicgallagher) March 31, 2015
The story was allowed to run for several hours before it was claimed we’d all misinterpreted what the Taoiseach was saying. Nope, just reported what he said! But what Enda Kenny meant to say was that this new proclamation was really just a project for school children to interpret the proclamation – an initiative of Minister of State Aodhán O’Riordán:
Delighted my 'Proclamation for a New Generation' school project is part of 2016 Programme launched tonight. pic.twitter.com/IDQJLNbNnc
— Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD (@AodhanORiordain) March 31, 2015
The reality was that by the time the clarification came, social media and radio shows were alive with commentary of how dare the Government and that the effort should be going into implementing the original proclamation.
Water – it’s the story that just keeps flowing
The Government just can’t get away from Irish Water. Following on from last week’s revelations that tens of thousands of incorrect bills would be issued due to problems in the system, this week it was revelations that getting the €100 ‘Water Conservation Grant’ was not going to be as easy as any of us thought. For months the message has been – register with Irish Water and you will get the grant.
But it emerged this week that it wasn’t going to be that simple. You would have to register a second time or at least make an application with the Department of Social Protection. A dedicated website would be established to do this and a call centre would be set up for those without online access. Ivan Yates and Chris Donoghue summed it up on Wednesday’s Newstalk Breakfast – “the greatest bullology”...
Mettle Martin?
It’s been another bad week for Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. And he now needs to really stand up to his detractors if he’s to show the mettle to make it to the election. The week started off with a defection from Fianna Fáil – an up and coming councillor in Kilkenny, switching to Renua. Councillor Paddy McKee’s underlying message was that Fianna Fáil under Micheál Martin isn’t going to deliver for people, but he thinks Lucinda Creighton’s Renua can. He spoke to Lunchtime with Jonathan Healy.
Martin didn’t show the mettle in public that he was going to stand up after this punch – instead it was left to Michael McGrath and Seán Fleming to say the party wasn’t wounded by this.
Micheál Martin’s being saved now on a number of fronts – the party is not going to do anything to him before the Carlow-Kilkenny by-election; but even if they lose that contest (it would be the seventh by-election loss under his stewardship) a general election is likely in five to ten months after that, and that’s hardly enough time to embed a new leader and change the direction of the party. But the biggest thing saving Martin for now is there is no clear candidate in the ranks.
Yes John McGuinness has declared his ambitions, but he doesn’t have anything near the support within the current frontbench. Then there’s Eamon O’Cuiv who keeps sniping – even after a dressing down from Martin at a frontbench meeting this week, he was still briefing journalists about the fact that morale was low. So the current leader of the soldiers of destiny needs to show his mettle and end this internal sniping that’s eating the party from within - once and for all.
One loss for Martin that he may benefit from is Senator Jim Walsh. The Wexford based Senator resigned the whip in his opposition to the Children and Family Relationship Bill, which deals with lots of issues for many families, but he particularly objects to the fact it will allow adoption by same sex couples.
Walsh is known for his conservative views and has resigned the whip before – when his own party enacted Civil Partnership legislation. He’s also known for taking debates to the extreme – on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act he gave graphic descriptions of abortions that had nothing to do with the legislation being enacted.
This week the Seanad was debating the laws to allow for a referendum on lowering the age of candidacy for the President. The money being spent on this referendum and the Marriage Equality poll (which he also opposes) would be better spent apparently on HIV testing for gay people – Walsh declared this in the Seanad, with the preface that it was a gay man had actually suggested it to him.
The Big Cheese
Another politician was all smiles this week – Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney. He probably has one of the easiest jobs in Cabinet at the moment – well he doesn’t have a daily crisis (Health) or a strike threat (Education) or massive protests (Environment). And he was helped along this week in his happy go lucky world with the abolition of milk quotas – a massive opportunity for Irish dairy farmers who can now produce as much milk as they want without EU fines. It might have been April Fool’s Day but that wasn’t going to stop Simon posing for cheesy photographs at Ornua (the new name for the Irish Dairy Board). And a small glass of milk might be seen as a bit wimpy – so get a bigger one!
Milk glass number one wasn't substantial enough for the cameras. A replacement was fetched. #ntfm pic.twitter.com/dyIhZYICGx
— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) April 1, 2015
The Dáil Bar will take a break next week as our politicians (and yours truly) are taking an Easter Holiday. But we’ll be back on the inside keeping an eye on our politicians in two weeks' time.
