Category: Leo Varadkar

Derek responds to @LeoVaradkar criticism of Taoiseach @MicheálMartinTD

by dsmooney, posted in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Good Friday Agreement, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Northern Ireland, Unity

Here is a slightly edited (i.e. condensed) clip of my appearance on the BBC Radio Ulster Talkback show where I joined Aoife Moore, Gregory Campbell MP and DUP founder Wallace Thompson to discuss comments made by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on the BBC’s Borderland podcast where he said that the current Irish government was guilty of putting up an “artificial barrier” to a referendum on a united Ireland.

As reported on the BBC NI website, Varadkar asserts that Taoiseach Micheál Martin is not prepared to push forward with work on preparing for unity until there was “total reconciliation” across the island – something which his predecessor said may never be possible. “This is where I differ with Micheál Martin,” said Leo Varadkar.

Though I disagree with Micheál Martin on many issues and quit Fianna Fáil in 2020 because of irreconcilable disagreements on several political issues, including Martin’s approach to unity and Northern Ireland, I think Varadkar’s criticism goes far too far and is 

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…” →

Next Dáil will have 18 extra TDs… but how many extra will FF or FG win… I doubt it will be many…

by dsmooney, posted in Dáil, Elections, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Politics, Sinn Féin
It is likely that the next Dáil will have 178 members

Last Thursday’s Irish Times/Ipsos poll findings left many people wondering why Fine Gael had suffered such a big drop in support (-4%).

The publication of the second half of the poll’s findings, a day later, offered an answer. It showed that voters would much prefer to see more money spent on improving public services and infrastructure than on tax cuts.

Only 13% of 35 – 49-year-olds (which at 19% is Fine Gael’s strongest voting cohort – though only just) want to see the government surplus used for tax cuts compared to 24% who want to see the surplus used to improve public services such as health and education or 39% who want to see it used to build infrastructure such as public transport, housing, hospitals, and schools. The ratios are very similar across other age groups. Continue reading “Next Dáil will have 18 extra TDs… but how many extra will FF or FG win… I doubt it will be many…” →

When you have a government determined to drive away support…

by dsmooney, posted in Defence, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Triple Lock

Welcome to my first column and podcast in several weeks. Apologies for the delay. This column is also available as a podcast via Spotify

From Google Maps – Schuman roundabout in Brussels (rond-point Schuman), site of several EU offices)

It has been a few weeks since I last produced a column or podcast. This lull has not been due to any lack of material. Far from it. There has been enough political activity over the past two months for several columns.

So why the dwindling output, you ask?

Well, it is indirectly related to the late great Jeffrey Bernard. Regular readers and listeners will know that I am a bit of a fan of Bernard… and regularly pepper my output with his bon mots.

Continue reading “When you have a government determined to drive away support…” →

Fine Gael reckons when they are explaining, you are snoozing

by dsmooney, posted in Fine Gael, GE2020, Leo Varadkar, Paschal Donohoe, Politics, Sinn Féin, Tanaiste, Taoiseach

In my first post of 2023 (apologies for the delay) I look back at the first few weeks of the Donohoe #Postergate saga and explore how Fine Gael has taken the old political dictum: when you are explaining, you are losing, and turned it on its head. Though they may feel it is working in the short-term… I believe that in the longer term, it will not. I do not see Minister Donohoe resigning – even post SIPO investigation – but I think his value (commercial or otherwise) to Fine Gael is now considerably diminished.   

If you are explaining, you are losing.

So ubiquitous is this political truism that its authorship is variously ascribed to such election campaigning greats as Ronald Reagan or Karl Rove.  

The idea underpinning the phrase is appropriately straight forward. If you want to win voters over to your cause you must sound confident and convinced. You do this best by having a message that is clear and concise. Spend too much time explaining your position and you come off looking desperate to convince. Continue reading “Fine Gael reckons when they are explaining, you are snoozing” →

The perils of the mid-term #reshuffle

by dsmooney, posted in Defence, Eamon Ryan, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green party, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Paschal Donohoe, Politics, Simon Coveney, Tanaiste, Taoiseach

In this blog I discuss the principal factors a party leader should consider when contemplating a mid-term reshuffle. Though I draw many of these from British political research, I also consider recent Irish expamples and refrain – largely – from engaging in too much speculation about who may be in or out next Saturday… or next week when the junior ministries are announced. 

Will it be “as you were” with some folks just moving steps rather than entering/exiting?

Aware of Paddy Ashdown’s background as both a Royal Marine and a Special Boat Service officer, Charles Kennedy observed wryly to the House of Commons in Oct 1998 that Ashdown was: “the only party leader who’s a trained killer. Although, to be fair, Mrs Thatcher was self-taught.”

Not that the Iron Lady saw it that way. Speaking about her post-election reshuffle options in a BBC interview on the day after her 1983 election win, she resisted Sir Robin Day’s invitation to call herself a good (political) butcher. Instead, she disagreed with Herbert Asquith’s claim that a good Prime Minister must be a good butcher, before adding that they did need to know how to carve the joint. A distinction without a difference?

Continue reading “The perils of the mid-term #reshuffle” →

Here’s an appalling vista – a politics dominated by Sinn Féin and Fine Gael

by dsmooney, posted in Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar, Sinn Féin, Taoiseach

In this week’s opinion piece I look at what I term the appalling vista: the prospect of a decade of Irish politics dominated by Fine gael versus Sinn Féin. We had a worrying glimpse of what it may look and sound like when Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, T.D., and Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty, T.D. clashed during Leaders’ Questions, last week. It was unedifying for all except the most passionate shinner and blueshirt partisans.

An appalling vista. The phrase most infamously comes from Lord Tom Denning’s odious dismissal of the Birmingham Six’s 1980 appeal against their wrongful conviction.

Denning was so firm a fixture of the British establishment that he refused to entertain the possibility that the West Midlands police had lied and framed six innocent Irishmen, declaring that:

…it would mean that the police were guilty of perjury; that they were guilty of violence and threats; that the confessions were involuntary and improperly admitted in evidence; and that the convictions were erroneous… That was such an appalling vista that every sensible person would say, “It cannot be right that these actions [the appeal] should go any further.

And so, Lord Justice Denning compounded the injustice being suffered by the Birmingham Six and dismissed their appeal.

Continue reading “Here’s an appalling vista – a politics dominated by Sinn Féin and Fine Gael” →

The Irish public 100% understands that defence costs

by dsmooney, posted in Defence, Enda Kenny, Fine Gael, Leo Varadkar, Simon Coveney, Tanaiste, Taoiseach

This column first appeared on Broadsheet.ie on Monday March 28th and sees me return to one of my most frequent themes… the devastation inflicted on Ireland’s national defence by the decade of political indifference shown by the two Fine Gael-led governments since 2011.  

97th Cadet Class Commissioning April 2022 via Defence Forces Flickr

“Coveney: Russian war highlights need to boost Defence Forces’ spend”.

This was the headline to a story in the Irish Examiner explaining how our part-time Minister for Defence is perhaps… possibly… on the cusp of the verge of being ready… in a few months… to signal that he just about ready to announce plans to consider the partial implementation of some of the recommendations in the final report of the Commission on Defence… if he secures the agreement of certain key people in Cabinet.

Regrettably, the words actually uttered by Minister Coveney on the day were not that much more definitive than my facetious parody, telling reporters that:

“I’ll be bringing an action plan on the back of the recommendations in the commission to Government in June and it will be a strong statement of intent from me, and I hope from government, if we can get approval, in terms of the need to quite significantly increase our investment in the Defence Forces”

Continue reading “The Irish public 100% understands that defence costs” →

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…?” →