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“SHAMBLES” WAS A word used repeatedly by Fine Gaelers in Leinster House yesterday to describe the debacle that has become its attempt to fill the vacant Seanad seat.
The appointment of John McNulty to a state board days before he was nominated to be the Fine Gael candidate for the Seanad by-election has all the hallmarks of a political controversy that’s of no interest to those outside the Leinster House bubble.
But that’s not necessarily the case. Firstly, the move does little to bolster Fine Gael’s gender balance credentials – a seat vacated by a female is going to a male. Secondly, it again raises questions about how the government handles state board appointments.
Here’s the (slightly complex) story so far…
Last week, Fine Gael nominated McNulty, a Donegal-based shop manager and losing local election candidate, as its candidate for the Seanad by-election to fill the seat vacated by newly-elected MEP Deirdre Clune.
Given the government’s majority in the Oireachtas, McNulty’s election to the upper house is a mere formality when the postal ballot of TDs and Senators closes on 10 October.
But his nomination was a surprise given that much of the speculation about who would fill the vacant seat had centred on a female Fine Gael candidate from Dublin.
The Fine Gael national executive is believed to have recommended that either Samantha Long or Stephanie Regan be the party’s choice. The pair both failed to get elected to council seats in Dublin in May’s local elections but were being touted as possible general election candidates and a Seanad seat would be a way of boosting their profile.
The women issue
But the higher echelons of the party instead decreed that McNulty should be the candidate. His selection caused a problem for many who believe Fine Gael is not doing enough for women in the party particularly after female TDs were ignored in the junior ministerial reshuffle.
One female Fine Gael TD, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told TheJournal.ie she had “no high expectations for women in the party” after McNulty’s selection.
“I think women have to work ten times harder to get to the same place as men [within the party],” she told us.
Samantha Long, who missed out on a council seat in May, said she had no expectation of being the party’s pick for the Seanad but expressed disappointment that women had been ignored. ”I’m very disappointed it wasn’t a woman,” she said.
State boards
McNulty’s selection also caused a problem when Today FM revealed on Monday night that he was appointed to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) days before nominations for the Seanad by-election closed.
McNulty cited his new position on IMMA’s board as grounds to be elected to the Seanad’s Cultural and Education Panel. But the appointment has been viewed by opposition senators as nothing more than an effort to bolster McNulty’s cultural credentials in order for him to qualify for the Seanad seat.
When it came to office three years ago the government pledged to open up state boards and allow ordinary citizens to apply for roles in a bid to deter ministers’ from appointing their own private candidates – something which Fianna Fáil became notorious for when it was in government.
But in this case it appears McNulty didn’t even apply for the role he was given.
An unnecessary controversy?
Arts Minister Heather Humphreys insisted in the Seanad last night that she made the appointment on the basis of McNulty’s credentials, saying she had no role to play in the selection of Seanad by-election candidates.
But Labour’s Ivana Bacik raised concerns about the manner and timing of McNulty’s appointment to IMMA coming just six days before his nomination for the Seanad by-election was confirmed. She said the move “doesn’t seem to be in keeping with the government reforms”.
Opposition senators were more scathing, Fianna Fáil’s Thomas Byrne described it as an “electoral ploy” and criticised the government for its failure to meaningfully reform the upper house since it was saved from Fine Gael’s attempts to abolish it nearly a year ago.
But whatever about Seanad reform, on gender balance and making appropriate appointments to state boards, Fine Gael, in this instance, has failed badly on both counts. As a result it has created significant and unnecessary controversy around an issue that few outside Leinster House were paying attention to a week ago.
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I doubt if FFG has any more room under the carpet
@Shakka1244: There’s a swing somewhere no-one uses anymore, could hide it there!!!!
@Will Thompson: It’s a magic swing, makes people disappear!
@Will Thompson: Yeah and still get well paid at the same time.
The lack of transparency shows a lack of respect for the public which is disgraceful!
@Nuala Mc Namara: the electorate aren’t worthy of respect. It doesn’t matter what FFG do, they get voted back in again. The public doesn’t hold them to account so why treat them with respect?
The government parties know that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and get voted back in irregardless so I doubt they care too much.
what happened to the, nothing to fear ,nothing to hide mantra that we’ve been hearing from fg about this card…. publish the report if there’s nothing to hide
The Government need to seriously examine why they are held hostage to bad or unworkable ideas like this one, the National Broadband Plan, the Children’s hospital, the strategy in the MauriceMcCabe saga, the Housing policies that are making things worse, etc, etc, etc. They defend these bad ideas to the death and line up ministers to defend and deny until the bitter end. Admit mistakes were made, learn from them and move on. It’s Ireland anyway. It’s not like admitting mistakes will cost anyone their job.
@Sean: all governments use thinktanks as their special advisers, usually made up the topdogs in finance, media and so forth….it is they that run countries.
@Sean: this government’s broadband, hospital, hse and homeless strategy is going exactly to their plan
@Sean: Everything the FG government does, in collusion with it’s coalition partners FF, is done according to policy decisions driven by FFG’s political dogma. FG are hostage to nothing but their political dogma.
FG have always despised the poor, the low paid, the less well off, the unemployed. They don’t govern on their behalf, they rule over ordinary people for the benefit of the rich, foreign private investor corporations, corporate interests. The IMF oversees any decisions the FG minority government makes. The IMF, the world’s privateers and asset strippers, dictate policy as agreed with Noonan to sustain the rotten and corrupt banking system in the country.
FG have no mandate to force such policies on the country. When you go into a GE after being part of a coalition government and you lose 26 seats in that GE you have lost any mandate to govern. This FG minority government is sustained by way of secret backroom deals made with a party that is bound by the constitution to oppose the government and hold it to account for the decisions it makes. That makes a total mockery of the democratic process in the country. FG and their partners in government,FF, don’t make mistakes. Everything is deliberate and according to plan.
This is ridiculous at this stage, whos behind this? Whos benefiting? I guarantee there is absolutely no benefits to the taxpayer but someone is benefiting. Fg are so belligerent about this and it stinks of a scandal and/or tribunal down the road
@Thomas Maher: it’s definitely gonna cost the state in payouts.
@Thomas Maher: If you say nothing I’ll give you half of this big brown envelope I just happened to find!
@Thomas Maher: The benefit for government is the potential for control over the lives of the citizens of Ireland.
@Thomas Maher: A great FF benefactor is the beneficiary!
Why would they . They are spinna gael
@Leo Lalor: Another minister incapable of the position they were appointed to.
It will be interesting to see how the Facilitraitor Party reacts?
Time to remove FG labour FF from Irish politics, 10 years this has gone on and now the countrys data protection agency is being attacked by them for telling the truth, they have behaved illegally.
@@mdmak33: What are they hiding??? Who got the contracts?
@TamuMassif2019: the same people that make the passport, the very thing they are making it compulsory for, how odd!
@Commentator: So you think that they be charging a massive fee for these cards next??? lol.
@TamuMassif2019: @ 60 mill I reckon they’ve already done that!
Can I ask a question. Maybe I’m totally off the wall but what are peoples problems with having a card with all their information on it ? Wouldn’t it make it easier for dealing with all depts eventually and rather than having to fill out forms and bring lots of stuff with you all you would need is the card ? I know there is a fear of the information being accessed improperly but surely if this was safeguarded everything would be ok. Move with the times and all that
@Declan Moran: you’re new here, aren’t you?
@Declan Moran: most people don’t have a problem with such a card. What most people have a problem with was the PSC’s compulsory nature; the fact that passports or driving licences – both legal and valid forms of ID – were to no longer be accepted; the way it was handled in that it was de facto a national ID card but without any legal basis; the fact that the government refused to debate it in the Dáil; and the fact that the government has already proven that they cannot safeguard the privacy of the information held on these cards. As for “rather than having to fill out forms and bring lots of stuff with you” – well, you still had to do that.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: thanks Brian. I hadn’t the energy.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: if you’re not adopted, an immigrant in dp, etc etc
@Mike Rugby Nuts: I feel like I’m missing the entire second half of your sentence. What point are you making about if “you’re not adopted, an immigrant in dp [sic]?”
@Brian Ó Dálaigh: dp is Direct Provision, I was too weary of FFG to finish that sentence.
@Mike Rugby Nuts: I figured that much out the first time around. Your sentence still makes no sense to me. What about adoption or immigration are you trying to say, and how do they relate to the PSC?
F them all out.
Everyone should just sue the department and the government.
@The Irish Bull: Good man and make all our lawyers billionaires.
Remove FFG..
It’s all very clear since the report went into the hands of the government that they intend to continue on with this illegal instrument. It didn’t matter what the DPC had to say in the report, it never mattered that legal experts told the government time and time again that there is no legal basis for this card, that people’s right to protection on their private and personal data and it’s abuse by this FG minority government was being ignored.
FG want this Biometric National ID Card by the back door as the means to control the lives of its citizens. Just as in India, the Aadhaar Card, the nation ID card there is being used illegally by the Indian government. The card has put the people of that country under the most draconian and intrusive surveillance. It will be put to the same use in Ireland if this government isn’t stopped.
It is as clear as day that this PSC is no benign instrument in the hands of this minority government and they will fight tooth and nail to keep it and to hell with the legalities.
Keep the Peasants in the dark
@Geoff Bateman: Under foot in the mud?
Sure why would they do the right thing, these mutants of FFG know full well that the deluded supporters they have who are stuck in the me fein, parish pump minset, will still vote them in no matter what
So much for our democracy! Openness, transparency my foot!!
So how much can I sue them for?
@Harry Trafford: The legal eagles reckon the payout for anyone that sues over the PSC is in the region of 15,000 euro.
Another mess covered up
There’s a great book called IBM and the Holocaust by Edwin Black. It describes what happens when the government knows too much about the citizens.
This govt believe they are answerable to nobody. Who Fianna FAIL. Sure they say nothing. Toothless. And the rest. Hmmmm
have your say