ANOTHER YEAR IS drawing to an end.
For these awards last year, we mentioned that no one could have expected the year that would be 2020.
There were high hopes then that the pandemic wouldn’t be dominating our lives in 2021 – but sadly, that has not been the case.
Covid-19 and the ongoing restrictions have led the political agenda this year.
Housing delivery, the stressed healthcare system, the Mica controversy, the mother and baby home redress scheme and the rising cost of living are also key issues that the government must grapple with alongside the pandemic.
All of us are hoping that next year the pandemic will be in the rearview mirror.
But before we look ahead, let’s take a look back at 2021 to see who were Ireland’s political winners and losers of the year.
In no particular order:
MARY LOU MCDONALD – SINN FÉIN
The woman who says she wants to be Taoiseach one day is certainly paving the way to making that a reality.
The polls for her party have only been going one way all year – up. Sinn Féin continues to extend its lead over the Government parties, with the recent Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll showing support for SF has risen by three points to 35% since the last poll in October, meaning the party’s popularity has risen to a record level.
Heading into 2022, the Sinn Féin leader must be optimistic about her chances of one day becoming the first woman Taoiseach, but there must also be concerns that a lot can happen in politics, particularly between now and the next general election. While polls are high now, any fall from grace could make a dent.
HELEN MCENTEE – FINE GAEL
Justice Minister Helen McEntee has had a good year. Not only has she become a mother for the first time, she is galloping through legislation in her department, some of which has been left on the shelves for years.
Image-based online abuse has been talked about since 2014, but it took McEntee to finally get the issue on the government’s agenda and outlawed. In an unusual turn of events, she was greeted with applause when she arrived at Government Buildings earlier this month thanks to the roll-out of the landmark scheme to regularise thousands of undocumented migrants.
She has forced the government to look at the frankly remarkable system in place where female TDs are not entitled to maternity leave, while also prioritising laws that other ministers have left languishing on their desks.
She has also focused on issues such as domestic violence, victims of crime legislation, with moves afoot to finally deal with the thorny issue many governments have avoided grappling with in Ireland – assisted human reproduction and surrogacy. She hasn’t ruled out wanting to take the lead of Fine Gael one day – and given her past record, there’s no reason why not.
BERNARD DURKAN – FINE GAEL
First elected to the Dail forty years ago next year, Fine Gael’s TD for Kildare North only misses out on being the Father of the Dáil due to not being a member for the nine months of the 23rd Dáil in 1982.
Regardless, the much-liked Deputy Durkan recently managed to get the issue of the National Lottery and its ‘unwinnable’ jackpot on the national agenda by saying what everyone was thinking.
Many laughed when he raised the issue but Lotto representatives surely wouldn’t have appeared before the Oireachtas Finance Committee had he not done so.
A diligent worker, Durkan is also a member of the Health Committee and recently put his experience on the former Eighth Amendment Committee to good use when taking Minister Stephen Donnelly to task on the planned abortion review.
Back in 2017, Durkan had said he learned a lot from that legislative process and he’s certainly shown evidence that he was being sincere.
He’s famously partial to a summery jacket too.
IVANA BACIK – LABOUR
The election of Ivana Bacik in the Dublin Bay South by-election this year has given the Labour Party a second wind.
Bacik topped the poll in Dublin Bay South, with a 30% share of first preferences. In contrast, Labour has been hovering at around 3% in national opinion polls.
Leader Alan Kelly acknowledged that it has been a “difficult” few years for Labour electorally, but said the by-election result means it was a good day for his party.
CATHERINE CONNOLLY – INDEPENDENT
The Journal first gave a nod to Independent TD Catherine Connolly back in 2019 for calling for accountability when it comes to the mismanagement of State funding.
Connolly has kept fighting the good fight during the pandemic, packing a punch when it comes to questioning the government over its management of some aspects of the Covid-19 response, as well as shining a light on the lack of human rights reviews and mixed messaging on the divisive nature of some of the restrictions.
MICHAEL MCGRATH (FF)/ PASCHAL DONOHOE (FG)
The two lads who hold the purse strings of the nation.
While there have been criticisms of the ‘meh’ Budget this year, where everyone got a fiver put in their back pocket and big decisions about the country were side-stepped, the Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe have managed to narrow the deficit in the public finances to €4.9 billion in November, with Government spending €2.6 billion, or 3.4%, behind target.
They were both seen as a steady pair of hands, having good communications, with both managing to avoid any real political banana skins this year.
STEPHEN DONNELLY – FIANNA FÁIL
Look, to be fair, anyone who finds themselves holding the poisoned chalice that is the Health brief rarely makes it onto the winners pile.
Donnelly has found himself in the ministry during a pandemic, so the odds were never really in his favour.
While the minister deserves props for the vaccination programme roll out, which is seen as one of the best in the world, the booster campaign has had its hiccups over the last few weeks.
Over the year there have been a number of examples of missteps from Donnelly or his department – many of them coming down to communications.
Issues such as telling those flying in to Ireland that they must have a negative PCR or antigen test before entering the country, only for the measure to pushed out a number of days – despite many passengers having already paid up for their tests.
There was also the matter of antigen tests. It was floated that the cost of antigen tests would be subsidised by the government, but later, the minister announced that the market had miraculously changed its ways and reduced the costs without the need for government intervention, This despite other countries such as the UK and US giving out free antigen tests to the public.
All in all, not a great year for the minister.
SIMON COVENEY (FG)/ KATHERINE ZAPPONE
The standout political moment of the year, other than Covid, is the Merrion Hotel fiasco/Zapponegate.
There was the shindig at the Merrion Hotel, text messages asking for meet and greets, and deleted messages, along with a job that would ultimately never get filled.
Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney gets the nod here for his interview with RTE’s Brian Dobson, where he was asked questions about the appointment process around former Minister Katherine Zappone to the role of Special Envoy for the freedom of expression at the UN.
Coveney told the veteran presenter not to start trying to make another story out of the scandal, and very much played down matters. He was later criticised for his attitude of ‘nothing to see here’ – something he later apologised for.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs later said he had deleted text messages from Zappone relating to the appointment, resulting in him being hauled before an Oireachtas Committee over the matter. He later survived a Dáil motion of no confidence.
Zappone gets the nod in this category for her radio silence on the whole controversy, as well as the repeated text messages (which were released by the department) she sent to Coveney about the job.
NORMA FOLEY – FIANNA FÁIL
Education Minister Norma Foley has faced criticisms throughout the year in terms of the communications strategy and decision-making process around schools and Covid-19.
The minister irked many parents by continually banging the drum that schools were ‘safe’ and that children were only picking up infection the majority of the time outside school settings.
There was also the late-in-the-day movement on ventilation in schools, despite a government expert report recommending the use of Hepa filters.
Other criticisms include the discontinuation of contact tracing among students, the last minute announcement around face-masks for children that principals had to implement overnight, as well as the denial that there was a teacher substitution crisis facing schools, despite a TD in her own party, Cathal Crowe, stating that he was considering going back to help out as a substitute teacher given the pressure schools were under.
Foley, who is a teacher herself, and a first-time TD as well as first-time minister, will be hoping for a better one in 2022.
CATHERINE MARTIN – GREEN PARTY
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin presided over the reopening of hospitality and the entertainment sector, but over the last year there has been repeated delays in giving a roadmap to sectors about how it would all work.
Unlike many of our counterparts in other EU countries, Ireland’s hospitality and live entertainment remained under tight restrictions last summer, despite being told that we had one of the best vaccination rates in the EU. Criticisms have been levelled at the minister for not doing more to argue for a safe reopening, with the Tanaiste admitting this week that we should have opened up more when case numbers were low.
There was also chaos in October when the green light was given to nightclubs to reopen but there were no guidelines issued. One of the main aims of most ministers to to shout out loud when something goes right in your department and ensure that you take ownership of the good news.
The reopening of live sporting events should have been one that Martin was shouting about from the rooftops, but she made the mistake of letting her junior minister Jack Chambers take all the credit. Something she’ll have to have to pay more heed to next year.
The minister also failed to bang her hands loud enough on the desk when she was refused access to the Covid sub Cabinet committee – the group that largely makes all the calls when it comes to restrictions and regulations. While technically not Martin’s fault that she was not allowed on the inside, at the end of the day, it isn’t a good look for a minister who wants to look strong in her brief and ensure that the voices she represents are at the heart of the decision-making process.
EAMON RYAN – GREEN PARTY
The leader of the Green Party rode the ‘green wave’ of the last general election but now that he’s in government, the pressure is on to deliver.
The Dublin South TD and founding chairman of the Dublin Cycling Campaign has managed to avoid any truly calamitous banana skins, side-stepping much of the blame the other two parties face over the mixed messaging and management of Covid.
The Climate Action Bill is Eamon’s baby, and he managed to get it over the line this year. It commits to Ireland becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and contains provisions for legally binding emissions targets through the introduction of five-year ‘carbon budgets’, proposed by the Climate Change Advisory Council.
It also commits to an ambitious 51% reduction in 2018-level carbon emissions by 2030, plans for which will be set out in the first two of these budgets. A big win for the Greens.
However, there is also a sense within the party that they want to see more sweeping change and that perhaps the party is compromising too much on key policy issues.
With additional reporting by Rónán Duffy
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