EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie casts its eye over events inside and outside Leinster House that have got people talking.
As the saying goes: ‘You win some, you lose some.’ So here are our political winners and losers from the past seven days:
1. Sinn Féin
Amid the controversy caused by Maíria Cahill and her allegations of abuse at the hands of the republican movement, Sinn Féin support has held steady. An Ipsos MRBI poll for the Irish Times this week showed that most people’s voting behaviour is unaffected by the controversy.
2. Leo Varadkar
The Health Minister was given nearly €200 million more than he asked for in a supplementary health budget this week. It perhaps shows hat he’s a better negotiator than his predecessor James Reilly.
3. Alan Kelly
Credit to the Environment Minister for responding so swiftly to the outrage caused by the death of homeless man Jonathan Corrie a few yards from Leinster House. When the long-time campaigner and Lord Mayor Christy Burke describes the hastily-arranged homeless forum as one of the most positive meetings he’s ever attended then Kelly is doing something right.
1. Ned O’Keeffe
The former Fianna Fáil minister was given a seven-month suspended sentence for using fake invoices to claim expenses totalling over €3,700 between 2002 and 2009.
2. Enda Kenny
Kenny’s poll rating took a battering this week with murmurings from the usual suspects about his future as Fine Gael leader. As we analysed during the week, Kenny is safe for now but a few more bad polls could change all that.
3. The banking inquiry
Legal difficulties have delayed the inquiry’s long-awaited public hearings from getting under way. TDs and Senators had hoped to get the outspoken Central Bank governor Patrick Honohan in as their first witness next week but that’s now been delayed until the New Year.
Mary Lou McDonald
The Sinn Féin deputy leader caused consternation in the Dáil again this week as she named six politicians listed in the Ansbacher dossier. Five of them subsequently denied any wrongdoing and McDonald was criticised by members of her own Dáil committee. But was she right to put those politicians’ names on the public record?
Is Mary Lou a winner or a loser this week?
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