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State of the Nation
Today is the day we've all been waiting for....
Here’s everything you need to know about what’s happening in Irish politics right now…
Updated 12.00 pm
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Everyone’s talking about…
In a blaze of indifference, the report of the Banking Inquiry will be published today before it is debated in the Dáil tomorrow.
A number of stories this morning focus on a number of different things we should expect to see. The Irish Times says that it will find that the ECB “explicitly threatened” Ireland in early 2011 not to burn bondholders. RTÉ leads with the recommendation for a commercial property price register.
Not exactly a Bernie Madoff style perp walk result to the inquiry.
Writing in TheJournal.ie this morning, committee member Senator Sean D. Barrett argues that the true value of the Banking Inquiry was in shining a light on how bad Ireland’s ‘system of oversight and scrutiny was and remains’.
He argues that little has changed and that ‘the seeds of the next crisis are already being cultivated’. It’s a sad conclusion to come to and we can only hope that it’s not proven correct.
If the unthinkable does happen again and we repeat the same mistakes again, at least the report will serve as evidence that change was recommended.
Any blame that is thrown around can’t be levelled at the committee members. They were hardworking and professional through many hours of testimony and always seemed appreciative of the difficult task they were given.
Ultimately though, the remit of the inquiry hampered it.
Joe Higgins TD, who was on the inquiry committee but would not sign off on its findings, will presented his own conclusions this morning.
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The agenda
- Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will be taking questions from 9.30am.
- ComReg are in the Communications Committee from 9.30am to talk about broadband and mobile coverage.
- Taoiseach Enda Kenny faces Leaders’ Questions at noon.
- The Seanad will pay tribute to its former member, playwright Brian Friel from 12.45pm.
- David Begg comes before the committee members at 1pm to face questions about his controversial nomination as chairperson of the Pensions Authority.
- Health Minister Leo Varadkar will launch the new National Maternity Strategy in Trinity College Dublin today at 2pm.
What the others are saying
- The Irish Independent reports that Tánaiste has ruled out working with Michael Lowry in government.
- The paper also reports that insurance companies are still refusing to cover people in areas where food defences are in place.
- The Examiner reports that Junior Minister Dara Murphy is meeting with the US Ambassador to try and secure a transatlantic route from Cork.
In case you missed it
- We’ve no date yet for the general election, but we’ll likely get it early next week.
- A Fianna Fáil candidate says her election advertising trailer was stolen and left by the side of the road.
- Health Minister Leo Varadkar suggested the the testing of illegal drugs in nightclubs after the recent tragic death in Cork.
- A TD says his use of pre-paid Oireachtas envelopes to send out invitations to his election campaign launch was not deliberate.
- Peter Mathews TD was kicked out of the Dáil chamber, again.
- Hillary Clinton has branded the planned inversion deal by a US company with the Cork-based Tyco as “outrageous”.
Good day for
Michael Lowry. Joan Burton can rule him out all she wants, but all this increased coverage of him from the ‘Dublin-based media’ is manna from heaven for the Tipperary TD.
He was likely to top the poll again and all this focus has done is probably guarantee him an extra few hundred votes.
And who knows what sway he’ll hold after those votes are cast.
Bad day for…
Nigel Dodds. The DUP politician came off all backward looking as he criticised the Taoiseach for expressing an opinion on Brexit.
The Taoiseach was asked about the vote while in London with David Cameron, so he was hardly putting his head above the parapet.
On the Twitter machine…
Padraig MacLochlainnn compares the current Michael Lowry controversy to Fine Gael’s reaction to some of Sinn Fein’s mates.
have your say