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EVERY WEEKEND, OUR political team casts an eye over the events inside and outside Leinster House that have people talking.
From the fallout of an anticlimactic attempted heave to a top civil servant getting a fancy new (well-paid) job, it’s been a curious seven days.
So, here are our political winners and losers from the week that was:
1. Micheál Martin
He found himself in the loser pile last week following the fuel protest, which resulted in the no confidence motion in the government, the loss of a junior minister and a government-supporting TD, as well as the so-called ‘heave’ against him.
This week, the Teflon Taoiseach was in listening mode.
He held a parliamentary party meeting earlier in the week and went about tweaking some of the party structures so those in Fianna Fáil can feed into more decision-making around the budget.
But while he seems to be happy to appease members this week, he’s taken a different approach with the opposition, accusing the Social Democrats of spouting “populist waffle” when it came to housing.
2. Robert Watt
It’s odd when a civil servant becomes an almost-household name. But Robert Watt has made a habit out of headlines. Much of the talk over the last few years has been about the hefty salary he was commanding while Secretary General of the Department of Health.
His time there has come to an end, and while there was chatter he might be getting a job in the Department of Housing, he instead landed a new job and a reduced salary (albeit €280,000 a year) heading up the Dublin City taskforce.
Interestingly, at a post-Cabinet briefing this week, reporters were told the job didn’t have an open competition for it, with Watt instead seconded to the role.
Heading into the weekend, Watt must see himself as a winner with a nice new job and a considerably large salary.
3. Jim O’Callaghan
The Justice Minister came in for some heavy criticism this month for his statement about sending in the army to handle the fuel protesters.
The shine came off him as a result, with some within Fianna Fáil saying that the whole debacle has damaged his chances of becoming the next party leader.
However, this week, for the first time in a rather long time, he is the first justice minister to see out a Garda Representative Association conference with little or no controversy.
It is the first time a justice minister has attended the conference in a number of years.
Due to the rank-and-file garda conference snubbing the previous Garda Commissioner Drew Harris over the years, successive justice ministers, including O’Callaghan, chose not to attend the event.
O’Callaghan is probably counting his lucky stars that he managed to attend this year, and with little or no grief at all.
4. Michael Cahill
Silver linings for the Fianna Fáil TD Michael Cahill who has benefited from the Healy-Rae fallout and clinched a new role on the Oireachtas Agriculture committee this week.
He is also a Kerry TD himself, so it’s probably seen as a one-up on his constituency colleagues who dropped their support of government last week.
5. The Council of State
The old gang got back together for the first Council of State meeting under President Catherine Connolly.
The expert group, which includes former taoisigh and former president Michael D Higgins, all gathered in Áras an Uachtaráin to discuss the International Protection Bill.
While there had been lots of speculation that Catherine Connolly and the coalition leaders might butt heads during her tenure as president, they all seemed to be getting on swimmingly on Monday during the photocall.
It all went off without a hitch, with the president deciding not to send the legislation to the Supreme Court and signing the bill into law this week.
However, she did say that she still has concerns about the legislation.
6. Senator Eileen Flynn
Independent Senator Eileen Flynn has been no stranger to abuse since taking a seat in the Seanad in 2020, but last week saw her face some of the worst in her career.
Having made history for becoming the first woman from the Traveller community to sit in the upper house of the Oireachtas, Flynn has a low tolerance for bigotry.
As an Irish Traveller, she said her accent, pronunciation and vocabulary are often mocked by racists online.
Flynn told The Journal she is not going to change the way she speaks to appease those who use that to demean her and her intelligence.
She’s on our winners list this week for refusing to accept that abuse and ridicule are part and parcel with life as a public representative.
1. Danny Healy-Rae
Makes our list for losing his seat on the Agriculture Committee and apparently causing some tensions within the Healy-Rae family.
Danny was not happy with being ousted from the committee by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and unsuccessfully tried to put down an amendment to the Order of Business to allow him to remain.
The tension between the two brothers was evident this week when Michael opted not to take a Dáil seat near his brother.
2. Leo Varadkar
The former Taoiseach has caused a lot of controversy over the last week with his comments about rural versus urban Ireland and who pays for whom.
He had the farming community, those in rural Ireland and even many within his own party speaking out against him.
With the by-election just around the corner, old Fine Gael were not impressed, stating that the comments put the party in a bad light.
In the end, Varadkar said this week that he had probably taken the comments he made on the Path to Power podcast last week “too far”.
While some outlets reported that the former Taoiseach issued an apology, he actually only apologised for causing any offence and stood over many of the points he made in relation to tax and subsidies.
Varadkar got a harsh lesson that while he may no longer be Taoiseach or Fine Gael leader, his party is still held accountable for his comments and actions.
3. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
The Minister put in a good Prime Time interview, laying the blame at the feet of BAM for missing completion dates on the long-delayed National Children’s Hospital.
But at the end of the day, she is still the Health Minister (we’ve lost count of how many have overseen this project now) who can’t give a timeline for the project.
Not having an answer to the question of when in God’s name is this hospital going to open will soon start to get stale.
Tell us in the comments who your winners and losers are this week.
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