Category: Government

Podcast script for: New Fianna Fáil leader in 2026… or wait until 2027… or never?

by dsmooney, posted in Fianna Fáil, Government, Micheal Martin

Here are my speaking notes / script for my podcast episode entitled: Change FF leader now… or wait until 2027… or never? This is not a transcript. It is the set of notes I drafted in advance of recording. As usual my podcast, as recorded, diverts slightly from the script as I riff on some themes, but it is guided by these notes.

Fianna Fáil’s Next Leader: Why 2027 Is Too Late

Today I want to talk about something many in Fianna Fáil are thinking about privately, but very few are prepared to say out loud: the future of their party, and the identity of the next Fianna Fáil leader.

Because whether people like it or not, Micheál Martin’s remaining time as party leader – and as Taoiseach – is limited. That’s not a personal attack; it’s just where the political calendar and political reality have brought us.

Continue reading “Podcast script for: New Fianna Fáil leader in 2026… or wait until 2027… or never?” →

Nation must go on standby while Fine Gael resets?

by dsmooney, posted in DUP, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Government, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Northern Ireland, Simon Harris

In this week’s column I ask why the nation’s business is being put on hold while Fine Gael attempts to find and then hit its “reset” button.  This column was written on the same day as the news of the resignation of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson emerged – along with the very serious nature of the charges made against him. I reflect broadly, but very briefly on this news in my accompanying Podcast

Simon Harris speaks in Athlone. Picture: Charles McQuillan/Getty Image sourced Sunday Business Post

The nation’s business has been effectively put on hold while Fine Gael takes another 10 days off to try to find, and then hit, the reset button.

On Wednesday March 20th the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar caught everyone off guard, including much valued political allies as the Finance Minister as Paschal Donohoe, and announced that he was resigning immediately as Fine Gael leader.

He also stated that he would formally resign as Taoiseach, as soon as my successor is able to take up that office. Note the wording. In effect, the outgoing Taoiseach said that the election of a new Taoiseach would be based on a timetable set by the Fine Gael organisation.

Continue reading “Nation must go on standby while Fine Gael resets?” →

And so Varadkar bunks off… without paying…

by dsmooney, posted in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Government, Green party, Leo Varadkar, Simon Harris, Taoiseach

This is my first Mooney on Politics column / podcast in a good few weeks.. apologies for the unforgiveable delay. Normal service will now be resumed. 

An old school bus ticket… fares please!!

Well… where do I start? It is a few months since I last produced a column or podcast, not that I haven’t had a few failed attempts since then. Many rarely got past paragraph three or four when the demands of the paying job distracted me, but even more were redundant as events moved faster than my typing speed.

So much has happened in the weeks since I last published anything that I would need several columns and podcasts to cover everything. But I haven’t the time to write them and you haven’t the time or energy to bother with them either, so rather that looking back and let’s start at where we are now, on Thursday March 21st and try to look forward.

Not there is a great deal to look forward to… but let’s not jump to the inevitable conclusion too soon.

The first question is why did the outgoing Taoiseach pick this week to announce his departure? Well, like most, I have no idea. There may be many reasons why he has decided to cut and run now, and there is no shortage of online speculation as to the reasons, but let’s not go there.

Continue reading “And so Varadkar bunks off… without paying…” →

For Both Taoiseach and Tánaiste The Question is: To reshuffle, or not…?

by dsmooney, posted in Government, Helen McEntee, Justice, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Oireachtas, Tanaiste, Taoiseach

This column first appeared on Broadsheet on January 4th and looks at the contrasting approaches that both Taoiseach and Tánaiste appear (from their public comments, at least) to the possibility of a reshuffle of their ministesr when the government mid-point/turnabout comes next December.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee – Picture: Sam Boal Via Irish Examiner –

Political commentators hailing a minister who was on maternity leave for half of 2022 as their politician of the year tells you a lot about the state of Irish politics.

Not that I particularly object to their choice of Minister Helen McEntee. Her absence from the cabinet table at a challenging time did nothing to diminish her public profile, while the positive media treatment of her return, did much to enhance it.

Minister McEntee is one of the few recognisable names and faces around the Cabinet table. She has become a political figure in her own right, albeit one who is still untested – a point I made here last February.

This is not something you can say about all her colleagues. While some do stand out as individuals with thoughts and ideas of their own, most come across as either politically shapeless or just innocuous. Mercifully the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have not required certain ministers wear nametags at meetings, if What’s My Line ever returns to our TV screens, the panel would have some trouble discerning precisely what the Minister for Children or the Minister for Agriculture do for a living. Continue reading “For Both Taoiseach and Tánaiste The Question is: To reshuffle, or not…?” →

We Can’t Spite Ourselves On Covid Restrictions

by dsmooney, posted in Boris Johnson, Covid-19, EU, Government, Pandemic

The column first appeared on Broadsheet on December 20th. In it I look at the latest government responses to the Omicron variant and ask if we are taking sufficient notice from what our government, and others across Europe and across the globe, have sometimes done wrong, and often done right.

I specifically urge the re-establishment of the Special Dáil Committee on Covid-19, which was, in a most short-sighted move, disbanded in October 2020.

A sign for a Covid-19 testing centre at London Heathrow Airport – Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

In his hefty 2011 tome, The Better Angels of Our Nature, cognitive psychologist, Prof Steven Pinker argues that the lesson is history is a society that has become less violent. His central premise is that there has never been any time, in the history of mankind, when we were less likely to die at another’s hand, than now.

It’s an uncommonly positive and optimistic analysis of the state of the world. Right now we need as much of that as we can get. Pinker’s outlook is not unique to him. Many others have reached the same conclusion. This is hardly a surprise. The statistics are convincing.

Continue reading “We Can’t Spite Ourselves On Covid Restrictions” →

Yes, filter NPHET but filter the air in classrooms first

by dsmooney, posted in Covid-19, Government, health, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Stephen Donnelly, Tanaiste

This week’s column first appeared on Broadsheet on December 6th and looks at two strained sets of relationships. The first is that between ministers and NPHET and the second is the one between the government and the hospitality industry.

When it comes to the relationship between the Cabinet and NPHET, a mutual preparedness to blur the delineation between roles of decision-maker and decision implementer, is coming back to bite… both . 

Meanwhile, the government’s willingness to propose additional restrictions for the hospitality sector can be seen as an attempt to distract from the same government’s lethargy on ICU beds, ventilation and antigen testing.  

Professor of health systems at Dublin City University, Anthony Staines on BBC’s Newsnight (Dec 3 2021)

Many years ago I was asked to help in the re-structuring and re-invigoration of a voluntary organisation. I was one of a group of outsiders. Each tasked with reviewing key aspects of the organisation’s work, operations, and structures.

Each of us brought a different skillset to the mission, HR, communications, fund raising and organisation. Towards the end of the assignment they brought us together to compare notes.

Governance had been a major issue in the organisation with the odd board member accused of crossing the line and getting involved in the day-to-day operations. So, we were all interested to see and hear what the person looking at organisation and governance would recommend.

Continue reading “Yes, filter NPHET but filter the air in classrooms first” →

The Shinners ready themselves for government… but are we ready for them?

by dsmooney, posted in By-Election, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Government, Mary Lou McDonald, Sinn Féin, Taoiseach

This week’s column first appeared on Broadsheet on Monday November 1st 2022, two days after the Sinn Féin Árd Fheis in Dublin. I explain why I think speculation about Sinn Féin being in government North and South within the next year, or two, is far too premature. I do not say it is impossible, just that it requires the leaderships in the two traditional big parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, to continue to mishandle events and misread the public mood. I firmly believe that one of these two former big beasts (at least) will soon come to its political senses and see that it is not offering the change demanded by a sizable cohort of what is still a moderate electorate.   

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, at the 2005 Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis in Killarney

For about twenty years I lived within a ten-minute walk of the RDS and Simmonscourt. This was particularly useful for the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheiseanna.

It meant I could soak up the atmosphere and anticipation in the hall during the build up to the party leader’s speech, but quickly nip home to see the full speech live on TV and catch the RTÉ news review.

This gave me a better sense of how the speech played in the world outside, as I was seeing what the people at home saw… well, those few who bother to watch these things.

Continue reading “The Shinners ready themselves for government… but are we ready for them?” →

Maybe We’d Believe Them More If The Numbers Were Smaller?

by dsmooney, posted in Dublin, Eamon Ryan, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Government, Green party, Housing, Jim O'Callaghan, Paschal Donohoe, Policy, Politics, public transport, Tanaiste, Taoiseach

This column appeared on broadsheet.ie on Monday October 4th, a few hours before the launch of the government’s €165 billion National Development Plan (NDP) 

After weeks spent playing catch-up on the self-inflicted mess that was Zapponegate, ministers and advisers will be relieved to be dealing with real hard political issues.

And there are no shortage of them. Over the next ten days we will see the fruits of their behind-the-scenes labours delivered via two major announcements. The first comes today with the launch of the National Development Plan (NDP). The second comes next week with the October 12th Budget.

Political convention suggests that the long-term political fate of this government rests on the success of these two events, plus the Housing for All package announced last month. But political convention hasn’t been right for a while, and there is no great reason to thank that is about to change.  

Though the NDP overshadows the Budget when it comes to the amounts involved, it will be a decade before we start to see if it is working or not. The NDP is the political equivalent of planting trees in whose shade you will never sit, though here it is more of a case of politicians delivering infrastructure for which they’ll never get the political kudos. Continue reading “Maybe We’d Believe Them More If The Numbers Were Smaller?” →

Women of extraordinary honour and courage

by dsmooney, posted in Defence, discrimination, Government, Justice

This Broadsheet column first appeared online on Monday Sept 27th. It looks at the harrowing stories of rape, bullying, harassment and discrimination, and the failure of military command to pursue the perpetrators, as told by former female members of the Irish Defence Forces to Katie Hannon in her RTÉ Radio One documentary: Women of Honour. 

Whenever I have written about defence issues I have done so from the point of view that we do not properly appreciate the men and women of Óglaigh na hÉireann/The Irish Defence Forces.

Whether I was bemoaning our failure to treat defence as a political priority, highlighting the problems with retaining personnel, or lamenting the gross underuse of our Defence Forces on national cyber defence, I have often portrayed military management as being a hapless victim.

While my benign depiction of a military management doggedly doing its best in the face of an indifferent political and administrative system, is fair in the instances listed above, it is not always the case.

No fair minded person could listen to Kate Hannon’s compelling, but distressing, RTÉ Radio One documentary, Women of Honour, and come away with a positive view of military management.

Listening to the documentary was difficult, but it is essential listening for anyone with any interest in Irish defence matters. Continue reading “Women of extraordinary honour and courage” →

Three More Reasons Why The President Is Right to Decline Invitation

by dsmooney, posted in Aras18, Brian Cowen, Good Friday Agreement, Government, Michael D Higgins, Northern Ireland, Unity

This week’s Broadsheet column looks at the faux controversy that has arisen from the decision by President Micheal D Higgins to decline an invitation from the Church Leaders Group (Ireland) to attend a #NI100 Church service in Armagh in October. The Church leaders also invited HM The Queen.  Here I suggest that this situation could have easily been avoided if the Church leaders, and others, had taken better heed of the advised offered back in May 2010 by then Taoiseach, Brian Cowen on the essential principles of commemorating and remembering. 

With any luck, the controversy over President’s Michael D. Higgins decision not to attend next month’s planned church service in Armagh to “mark the centenary of the partition of Ireland and the formation of Northern Ireland” will soon abate.

It is a row that does no one any credit, least of all those who claim the President has a missed opportunity to extend the hand of friendship to Unionism.

As yesterday’s Ireland Thinks/Mail on Sunday poll reported, a staggering four out of five of us believe that President Higgins is doing the right thing and for the right reason.

He is. But he has more than just popular sentiment on his side. This was not a decision made impetuously or in haste. As the President explained last week, he has been mulling over the invitation from the Church Leaders Group (Ireland) for several months. He shared his concerns with event organisers telling them that the event title was not a politically neutral and presented him with difficulties.

Continue reading “Three More Reasons Why The President Is Right to Decline Invitation” →