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EVERY WEEKEND, OUR political team casts an eye over the events inside and outside Leinster House that have people talking.
The Dáil has risen for the summer and politicians are off on their holidays (though they are at pains to point out that constituency work continues).
We’ve decided that it’s a good point to stop and cast our eyes back to select some political winners and losers so far this year. Sort of like a mid-year report card, so here we go:
Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has been on a bit of a roll this year.
She went head-to-head with the leaders at the Rotunda Maternity Hospital, telling them that consultants who signed up to the public-only contract could not keep providing private care.
While some people still have questions about whether Ireland should get rid of all private maternity care, the fact the minister was firm in her position was applauded.
Her stern words for consultants went beyond those working in maternity units, with the minister also calling out hospital management over not rostering all consultants to work over weekends as set out in their contracts. She has given them one month to comply to the work agreements they have signed, so the health system can move towards operating at full capacity, seven days a week.
She has even been getting pats on the back from those in the opposition, a rarity indeed.
Carroll MacNeill has also been locked in a war of words with contractors BAM for missing completion dates on the long-delayed National Children’s Hospital.
A word of warning, though. While the no-nonsense approach over the airwaves isn’t doing her reputation any damage right now, if the hospital completion date drags on, it’ll probably be the minister that will end up getting it in the neck.
Social Democrats Holly Cairns has had many successes in the first seven months of this year.
In May, polls put her as the most popular party political leader in the country, with a 39% approval rating, a few percentage points ahead of Mary Lou McDonald, Micheál Martin and Simon Harris.
She has been holding her own at Leaders’ Questions, going head-to-head with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who often gets rather tetchy during their exchanges where he regularly accuses her of not having a monopoly on compassion. (We’re hoping we don’t hear that turn of phrase for the rest of the year as it has been repeated ad nauseam.)
She’s also managed to add to her cohort of TDs, getting Dublin Central Daniel Ennis over the line in the byelection.
On the personal front, there was some happy news as she announced that she is expecting her second baby.
Cairns said the party’s deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan will step into the role of acting leader in October for the duration of her maternity leave.
The Going Places Award: Catherine Ardagh
Fianna Fáil’s Catherine Ardagh was given a promotion to the Department of Justice in this term.
Ardagh currently serves as a TD for Dublin South Central, having been elected in 2024. Before her election to the Dáil, she served as a senator from 2016 to 2024.
Just this week, she was giving a first-hand account of the life-changing difference an assistance dog can make, with her son recently getting a dog.
Ardagh has twin sons named Seán and Darragh Óg. Her son Darragh has profound autism and is non-verbal. Ardagh has become a prominent advocate for the rights of autistic children and those with special needs.
“As Budget 2027 preparations continue, I will keep working to ensure assistance dogs remain firmly on the agenda and that we build a fairer, more accessible system for those who need them,” she said.
Landmark “Right to Be Forgotten” legislation for cancer survivors, which was championed by Ardagh, also passed all stages in the Oireachtas.
It will, for the first time in Irish law, place a clear and enforceable requirement on insurers to disregard cancer-related medical history when assessing applications for mortgage protection insurance.
Political diss of the year so far: ‘A sleeveen is a sleeveen’
It is Mary Lou McDonald who has really pushed the boat out in terms of political rhetoric in the Dáil this year.
“A sleeveen is a sleeveen,” she said in the Dail in May, during a clash with Taoiseach Micheál Martin. It prompted Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy to remind politicians where they were several times.
The row came in the wake of a Daft report on rent prices, which found that they have soared amid the government’s major reforms to the sector earlier this year, amounting to the largest increase in almost a quarter of a century.
Her other diss, which she uttered under her breath only recently, was when she called the Taoiseach a ‘tosser’ in the Dáil. She wouldn’t withdraw the remark when asked about it later.
These insults thrown across the chamber come amid calls from politicians such as Tánaiste Simon Harris for politicians to dial down the rhetoric and insults.
Everyone must try harder next year to be more respectful. Can’t we all just get along?
Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins knows how to grab the attention, and he did just that in February when he produced photographs on the plinth of questionable lunches being served up to kids under the hot school meals programme.
It certainly put many of their lunch that day.
Must do better politician: Jim O’Callaghan
The Dublin Bay South TD is still tipped to take over from Micheál Martin when he steps down, so it is not all bad, but there have been a few hiccups for the justice minister so far this year.
First off, the confusion during the fuel protests when it was announced that the army could be sent in, much to the surprise of the actual Defence Minister Helen McEntee was down to his poor communications. That sort of sloppiness at a time of heightened tensions didn’t help matters.
He’s also heading into the summer months in a stand-off with solicitors over the free criminal legal aid issue.
If he wins out though, it will be seen as a success for the minister. But it’s a risk walking that tightrope given people are speaking out about their oftentimes traumatic cases being delayed over the matter.
One thing that wasn’t on our bingo card this year was a minister going overboard.
But in April, without any warning, Kerry TD and junior minister in the Department of Agriculture, Michael Healy Rae stood in the Dáil and resigned from the government, accusing the coalition of losing touch with the people.
He said that he could not, in his heart, vote confidence in the government over the handling of the fuel protests.
Following that, in an explosive interview on Radio Kerry on Tuesday, Healy-Rae said it was his brother Danny’s fault that he resigned as a junior minister.
In subsequent interviews, Simon Harris left the door open for him to join the government one day.
Diplomatic incident of the year: The US Ambassador visiting Conor McGregor’s pub
US Ambassador to Ireland Ed Walsh has faced criticism, accused of ‘trivialising sexual violence’ after visiting a pub owned by MMA fighter Conor McGregor.
In November last year, McGregor was deemed liable for sexually assaulting Nikita Hand in the Beacon Hotel on 9 December 2018, with the jury in the case awarding Hand over €248,000 in damages.
The visit resulted in the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) calling out the ambassador for visiting the establishment.
Chief executive Rachel Morrogh said it would add fuel to protests already planned for President Donald Trump’s visit to Ireland in September.
Backing that position, former taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he recoiled when he saw a report and pictures of Walsh’s visit to the Black Forge in Drimnagh.
“I’m not easily shocked. I think the Rape Crisis Centre really spoke for me, and I think it spoke for a lot of people in the country (on this issue),” he told the Path to Power podcast with Matt Cooper.
“What messages does this send out to women? What messages does it send out to victims of rape and sexual assault? And I think it was a big, big mistake on his part.”
He called on the ambassador to make amends, to apologise and also to invite Nikita Hand to the ambassador’s residence.
There were no such harsh criticisms of the ambassador from the Taoiseach and Tánaiste this week, something that has been put under the spotlight by Irish Times columnist Justine McCarthy who wrote: “Neither Micheál Martin nor Simon Harris dared rebuke Uncle Sam… it is an unconscionable dereliction of duty for the State’s leaders to fail to support victims in a climate of growing violence against women.”
‘I Wish the Ground Would Swallow Me Up’ Award: Lynn Boylan
Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan was addressing a committee of the European Parliament this week when she said it was a shame she was unable to make her address in Irish.
“It’s unfortunate that we can’t use our own language in this committee, but I will continue now in English,” she said.
However, she was interrupted by officials who told her there were translators there to translate Irish (due to Ireland holding the EU Presidency). She was told she could speak in Irish, but Boylan responded: “We didn’t know, sorry. So I’ll continue in English because I wasn’t prepared”.
The clip has been doing the rounds, with plenty getting a dig in.
There is no dishonour in not being able to speak off the cuff as Gaeilge, but it is a classic moment of wanting to put the words back in one’s mouth.
Every couple of months, the news breaks of some outlandish project that has cost the taxpayers’ millions. At least with the bike shed and the expensive security hut, they are being used every day. Not so with the case of the €50 million failed Irish Rail IT project.
We heard this week that recent testing of the software revealed it is “demonstrably not suitable” for roll-out on the rail network in Ireland.
The new system is badly needed for the new National Train Control Centre for Heuston Station which will replace the existing Central Traffic Control Centre at Connolly Station which is reaching its end-of-life.
The Oireactas Public Accounts Committee was told this week that the product is not fit or safe for deployment, and it could hinder the expansion of the Irish rail network. Great.
Tell us in the comments who your winners and losers are for the year so far.
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