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WE VERY NEARLY have a new government up and running, with a vote on Taoiseach set to take place next Wednesday.
Earlier this week, the publication of the draft programme for government gave us an insight into how the government will work and what its priorities will be over the next five years.
Replacing the Greens this time around are seven TDs from the Regional Independents Group along with Michael and Danny Healy-Rae, who have done quite well for themselves in the negotiations.
Taking to the plinth in Leinster House on Wednesday, lead-negotiator for the Regional Independents, TD Michael Lowry, informed the media of the positions the group secured (Before cutting the press conference short after being asked questions about the Moriarty Tribunal).
The group will have two junior ministers, Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran in the OPW and Sligo TD Marian Harkin in higher education.
It has also secured two super junior ministers who will sit at the Cabinet table: Galway West TD Noel Grealish will be a super junior with responsibility for food at the Department of Agriculture, while Galway East TD Seán Canney will have a Minister of State position in the Department of Transport.
Canney has also been put forward by the group to represent it in weekly leaders’ meetings with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. A coveted position.
He will have the ear of the two most powerful figures in the State and will be in a position to directly influence government policy in a way other TDs could only dream of.
So who is Seán Canney, the man who is – to shoehorn a Hamilton reference in here – now in the room where it happens?
Canney’s time in national politics has largely been without controversy.
He was first elected to the Dáil in 2016 and has been an Independent for his entire political career.
Canney describes his vision for Ireland as one where “our children and grandchildren can build a decent life for themselves, where all people are treated equally and where our society looks after the most vulnerable”.
On his website, he states that this can be done through policies that empower people and communities.
Canney, who has campaigned to abolish the means test on the carers’ allowance, has been described as a “champion” for carers’ rights throughout his time as a TD.
This was the phrase used by Family Carers Ireland’s spokesperson, Catherine Cox when speaking about Canney yesterday on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
In recent Dáil contributions, he has spoken about harsher sentencing for those that commit sexual offences, telling the Dáil last year:
“We need to consider how that is treated and how the people who perpetrate these crimes, who are a danger to society, can reoffend, get bail and be out in society.”
During a motion on gender-based violence, Canney called for a cross-Oireachtas committee to be established on the issue, which he said should be chaired by the justice minister.
Such a committee could bring about change, “not just on a tokenistic basis, but on a basis that we might deliver effective measures that will stand up with the bravery women have shown and have continued to speak about”, he said.
On other issues, Canney was opposed to repealing the eighth amendment and has spoken at anti-abortion events in recent years.
In 2021, he co-sponsored a bill to provide for pain relief for the foetus in certain cases of termination of pregnancy. The bill was defeated by a Dáil vote.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Canney co-sponsored a bill with TDs Catherine Connolly and Peadar Toíbín that sought a public inquiry into the management of nursing homes during the crisis.
In 2023, the Galway East TD co-sponsored a bill that sought to amend the Gender Recognition Act 2015 to make provisions for single-sex accommodation in prisons.
Before becoming a TD, Canney unsuccessfully ran for a Dáil seat in 2011 and sat on Galway County Council for a decade from 2004 to 2014.
He was also mayor of County Galway in 2007 to 2008.
Flash forward to his entry into the national arena and Canney found himself immediately in the fold of power.
This current round of government formation talks was not his first rodeo, with Canney participating in the same discussions in 2016 as a member of the Independent Alliance.
That time around, formation talks lasted 70 days and culminated in the Independent Alliance going into government with Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael.
As part of the deal, the Independent Alliance was given the role of minister of state for the OPW and flood relief and it was agreed that it would alternate between Canney and Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (who is also a member of the Regional Independents Group this time around).
Canney took up the post first – it is understood this decision was made via a literal coin flip.
The handover was done one year later and by all accounts was a cordial affair, at the time Moran told The Journal that the torch was passed at an event in his local pub in Athlone.
Things, however, did not stay cordial for long. Somewhat unbelievably there was confusion over who would hold the position for the third year.
Canney was of the understanding that the position would rotate again, but the rest of the Independent Alliance decided that Moran would stay in the role for the remainder of the government’s term.
Cue huge row.
The group called on Canney to clarify his position, giving him a deadline to make his position known.
His position was clear: he was out. Canney announced he was leaving the Independent Alliance in May 2018 but would still support the government on issues of confidence and budgetary matters.
Flash forward a few months, to October 2018, and Canney was back in a junior ministerial position having been appointed a minister of state in the Department of Rural and Community Development by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
There he was responsible for Community Development, Natural Resources and Digital Development. He remained in that role until the formation of a new government in June 2020.
While in government, Canney pushed to scrap mandatory retirement policies.
In this recent election, the issues he identified as important were: farming, housing, health care, carers, infrastructure, public transport and disability matters.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast last month, Canney identified housing as a particular concern of his.
He rejected the notion that Independents deal solely in “parish pump politics” but did mention local issues like traffic congestion in Galway and the lack of public transport in the county. He has been an advocate for the delivery of the Western Rail Corridor.
He has been outspoken about his view that the issues facing his constituents in Galway East are replicated across the country.
“Just because I am an Independent TD it doesn’t mean I am parochial.
“The national interest serves the local interest as well,” he told Primetime this week.
Brought up on a family farm in Belcare, Tuam, Canney is married and is the father of three children, Kenneth, Shane and the late David.
Before entering national politics, Canney was a quantity surveyor and lectured in that and construction economics at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.
Outside of work, he is involved in Gaelic football and is a member of Corofin GAA where he served as its assistant secretary for a number of years.
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121k to design a hut. Pull the other one.
@Llennoc: and 190k to rent a temporary security hut during construction period. The Golden circle are allowed to plunder the tax take, with a nod and a wink. No wonder there’s such a gap in society, the range rover brigade get their money so easy, no work involved
Who got the job and let us see all the quotes
OPW is in cahoots wirh certain CCTV and security companies across the country at ALL OPW sites…. i know for a fact, as i’m in the game. This in itself needs investigating.
@Steve Davis: I think maybe you need to supply the information you have to the gardai and expose what is going on
@Tony Lyons: he’s snookered now…..
@JB Software: quality comment
No one is questioning the need for security… but seriously, the cost is ridiculous…. this is not government money, this is taxpayers money… there seems not to be any proper scrutiny from the opw on spending our money.
@R kelly: opw are just one state organisation. There’s others that spend vastly more money, the waste is incredible.
@R kelly: the cost for the equipment fit out isn’t unreasonable
@Pat Hazzard: Mr Pathetic trotted out by Fianna Fail to defend the indefensible. If Jimmy Saville was from FF, you would still come on here defending him, sad pathetic shill.
@Pat Hazzard: are you off your tree ?
Here’s the real breakdown.
Cost of hut 429k.
Cost of scam 1m.
The OPW has a ‘Panel’ of three ‘Approved Security Suppliers’. Palms have to be seriously greased to get on that panel.
Once you’re on the panel, you are in cahoots with the other 2 companies and everyone agrees to ramp their quotes up by 400%. (Thats actually how it works)….
The OPW then gets 3 quotes, one off each of their ‘approved suppliers’ so its seen to comply with tendering laws – regardless of the fact they are getting fleeced and could get it €100 of thousands cheaper elsewhere….
@Steve Davis: You seem to know a good bit about this. you should become a whistleblower.
Write to the Gards, to Journos, try take pics of documents that prove what you are saying and get the word out.
no point moaning about it in the Journal comments. Go do something about it.
It’s so easy to spend somebody else’s money. Disgusting.
Not their money so no one cares.
People responsible need to be held to account. It’s very close to criminal what has gone on here.
What’s the scrap value of the copper boss?
The Minister with responsibility for the OPW must be hiding in the HUT, no sign of him for the past fortnight.
I’m so fed up of this country.
The civil servants are running/ruining this country get them out,sack them all
@Paul: when there’s no accountability, they’ll do what they please.
@Paul: then you’ll have nobody to process your dole.
@Tony Murphy: it’s being happening for years, and did you think the days of the brown envelope was gone.
Where going off the rails on this gravy train
Some gig getting a government contract .
191k replacement security system
Would they need to build a fortress around them if they were a popular government? The lorry that rammed the gates of leinster House in 2010 was driven by a very frustrated gentleman,frustrated that this very pack of muppits drove the country of a cliff by refusing to listen to all the warnings given to them at the time. They will do it again and will need protecting.
Who signs off on these? Is there not a minister responsible for the OPW? After all it is taxpayers money they are throwing out.
It’s a thundering disgrace but they will have a right laugh at the christmas party about how they can do whatever they want and not have to worry about getting pulled up on it. Pissing away tax payers money is so deeply embedded in the civil service it will never change.
Government Contracts means Gravy Train for the chosen few. No questions asked. Sickening.
Did they never hear of Ring Door bells..
3 instances is a pattern
that’s just the tip of the iceberg !
these showers are not fit for purpose and should be inquired on everything they do, on everything they get (perks, advantages, money, pensions etc…)
Name and shame, get the money back, do not vote for them anymore …
Heads should roll at OPW. Crazy spending spree their on.
It’s a security hut, not MI5s headquarters. They must have some James Bond gadegts going on in that hut, or Sensori got the contract.
I’d like to see the security footage of the bike shed being built from this state of the art security building. As I hear there was robbery happening at the time.
In fairness, when the Russians come, we all know where to go. For that money, it should hold all 5 million of us and room for a pony.
https://jrnl.ie/6498460
All Sinn Féin’s fault though, and to a lesser extent the Social Democrats. You can see how the government have risen in the polls though
We need Monuments to the Largesse of our Elite that represent our entitled Govt, Civil Service & “Public Service Broadcaster RTE”. The Bike Shelter & Security Hut, as Stephen Matthews described as “Beautiful”, are representative of how the Elite regard themselves & a total disregard of those who work hard & pay their taxes. It has been ever so in Ireland for decades now, a country where the select Elite thrive in a country rotten to the core. Nothing will ever change, there will always be another NCH, Bike Shelter, Security Hut, followed by the faux outrage of the Elite & the oft used “Lessons Learned”.
If we stopped calling it a “hut” it would help. It’s a state of the art security office at the entrance to our highest government building.
@Martin O Connell: yes and the bike shed is the taj mahal. If this level of security is needed then why are the military not guarding it.
@Martin O Connell: OK, we’ll call it sorasoatetohgb for short.
@Martin O Connell: with a 60,000 euro roof ,stop trying to defend this shite givt
The d Hotel in drogheda was paid 5.3 million for the first 3 or 6 months to house asylum seeks why didn’t we buy it and city west and money hundreds of millions spent and nothing to show for it 190k to rent a security hut why didn’t opw buy it nothing to show for it
Hold on, eu 121,000+ spent on design ! Sounds like OPW engaged consultants for the design. Why? The OPW has their own architects, so why did they need consultants. What were the OPW architects doing, what are they being paid for? Scandalous.
Must have been a lot of brown envelopes involved
Great to see all the learned comments from all the security and construction cost experts here today………
@chris gaffney: that’s it !
Common sense tells you this is a totally overpriced POS.
But here comes Chris trying to tell us it’s all fine .
Feck off chris
construction industry needs to be regulated! Seriously!
have your say