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WHEN HE FAILED in his bid to abolish the Seanad a year ago, Enda Kenny could never have envisaged the upper house would cause as many problems it has for him in the last week.
The withdrawal of John McNulty from the Seanad by-election is a huge headache for the government which has been grappling with the lack of a majority in the upper house since Deirdre Clune’s election to the European Parliament in May.
This has left the opposition with a 30-29 majority in its favour – even when the vote of cathaoirleach Paddy Burke is included on the government side. As a result the opposition was able to defeat the government in a vote on an amendment to free GP care legislation recently.
The coalition was also defeated when the opposition forced Arts Minister Heather Humphreys into the Seanad to explain her role in the McNulty debacle.
Filling the Clune seat – and regaining a majority – was expected to be a formality for Fine Gael once they had picked a candidate as the by-election electorate is made up of TDs and Senators and the government has a huge majority across both houses of the Oireachtas.
But the revelation that the Donegal shop manager was appointed to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) six days before he was selected as Fine Gael’s Seanad nominee has caused such a furore that the losing local election candidate has seen fit to withdraw his name from the race.
McNulty still appears on the ballot paper that went to TDs and Senators on Friday, but most Oireachtas members would not have picked up their ballot paper until yesterday. Several we spoke to today said that they, and most of their colleagues, have yet to cast their vote given the deadline for return of ballots is not until Friday, 10 October.
Also on the ballot paper are the independent candidate Gerard Craughwell, who has Fianna Fáil’s support, and the Sinn Féin councillor Catherine Seeley. Coalition deputies and senators may now cast their vote for Craughwell who will be considered the favourite to win the seat.
But the former president of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland said that while he would not be a “thorn in the side” of the government he will not be subjected to a whip “under any circumstances”.
“I am not going in there to trip government up, they have nothing to fear from from me. If there is something I don’t like I expect them to talk to me. If they are trying to run legislation through I’d expect to be consulted on it,” he told TheJournal.ie this afternoon.
A Seeley win would give Sinn Féin four senators in the upper house though it appears unlikely that Fine Gael and Labour TDs would support her en masse.
The only other situation that may arise is that McNulty wins. Despite telling TDs and Senators not to vote for him his name appears on the ballot paper and so could conceivably win the vote. Were he to win McNulty would be expected to resign the seat immediately on principle.
That creates the prospect of another Seanad by-election being held and Fine Gael hopefully (from their point of view) selecting a candidate that is not as mired in controversy as McNulty, through no fault of his own, has been.
But right now the the most likely scenario appears to be a win for Craughwell and he is giving every indication that he will not bow to the government’s wishes.
All of which means the opposition will have a majority in the Seanad and will do most likely for the remaining lifetime of this government.
That could cause all sorts of headaches for the Taoiseach and the government. The shame from their point of view is that all of this was entirely avoidable.
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Good on ye! Someone has to do something and yet again it’s nurses. My mum was dying in ICU when we had the last nurses strike in 2019 and in spite of wanting the best for my mum I absolutely supported the nurses then and I will now. They were quite simply angels who helped us through the toughest of times and gave my dear mum what little dignity they could in her final days.
I went into limerick hospital on a Friday late evening with chest pains about two years, the A&E doctor was fairly sure it was muscular after a few tests. Saturday I felt fine and wanted to be discharged, the doctor said he needed the cardiac consultant to see me but he wouldn’t be in till Monday morning. 5pm Monday I was discharged. If there was a cardiac consultant on over the weekend, I could have been gone home Saturday instead off occupying a bed for an extra two nights. Bad management all around, support the nurses but everyone know it’s management is the issue
@Patrick O Connell: the lawyers kept you in for 2 nights
I wonder will they call off any industrial action when a few of their members get some middle management posts (which will then create more paperwork for the staff on the wards) like they did the last time they striked.
Typical contribution from this so called leader. Just how constructive is a call for strike ballot right now. Typical – all bluster and offers nothing in the way of constructive solution. But wait – a 10% salary increase will cure all her ills. Meanwhile the rest of can whistle dixie.
Threatening to go on strike so they can get more money.. Typical while patients of all ages are the ones who have to spend hours in A and E waiting to be seen. Dumped on trollies or chairs and after been seen left with a bill unless you have a medical card.
@Just Some Guy: if this is what you think it’s about, you need to put down the FFFG branded cool-aid .
@Just Some Guy: Read the articles. They’re as stressed over the overcrowding and understaffing as anyone else – unlike the patients and voters, they’re doing something to change this ridiculous scenario where every year hundreds of sick people are stuck in corridors. Ireland needs thousands more bed spaces And the staff to give them the healthcare they all deserve. Good for the staff who aren’t being fobbed off with annual excuses. They’re the very people who have been warning the people of Ireland that this is not only happening again but getting worse.
@Just Some Guy: Jesus, Varadkar, Martin, Donnelly will be delighted with you for that comment. Wonder why you didn’t blame Doctors ,Nurses, and the staff working themselves to the bone for being responsible for the chaos in the Health service. Bit ironic you failed to mention it was FFG policy the created this mess. Of course that would not suit your agenda…
@Donal Desmond: we have Dave the Ra shouting at anyone that will listen that our health system is terrible and yet his comrade Martina Anderson telling anyone who listen in the North that we have a Dar superior health service.
@Patrick O Connell: Perhaps it has escaped your attention that SF is not in government in the South. You conveniently fail to mention it is FFG who between them have governed this state since it’s foundation. Yet you blame the opposition for the catastrophic health service. As for the North there has been no Government in place since the DUP threw their rattler out of the pram.
@Just Some Guy: did you even read the article? It’s not about money it’s about staffing levels and overcrowding. Nothing will change anyway but at least they are highlighting it
@Just Some Guy: Nurse’s are not going on strike over pay they are going on strike over Patient safety no Nurse’s no beds and no support, have you worked a 12hr shift with no break???
If a disaster like the Stardust were to take place, what would happen? It doesn’t bear thinking about
This is worse than it has ever been….our daughter is a palliative nurse and is trying to treat cancer patients on a trolley in A and E…this is beyond disgusting….get Leo and the other ministers in and see for them selves what it is like…something needs to be done
@Linda Oreilly: Leo knows exactly what it’s like. He was originally a doctor in Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. Martin was previously a health minister. They know precisely what’s wrong but chose to do nothing about it because it doesn’t directly affect them.
@Eddie Feeney: they’ll just ride out this storm besides actually doing something ie actually do a bit of work. But they will give themselves a couple more Pay rises that you can be assured of.
Who knows, maybe these guys are playing the long con so, leave the country in such a state of disarray that when SF do take the hot seat things will be so bad people will just blame them then the current bunch will be back in power before they know it.
Toothless Union,
Fix the health system, end of, as the English say.
When it comes to nurses, it is difficult to be critical, even constructively, because everyone reverts to the emotional arguments to push their point and in so many ways we are so grateful to them.
That said, a lot of the working conditions incl trollies is largely down to nurses unions. They are the frontline. These problems did not develop overnight. Their unions threaten strikes over pay but claim it is all about ‘ patient safety’, yet when have we heard them threaten to go out on strike because of trollies, understaffed/ under equipped services which has been going on for years and only gets worse. 24hr healthcare i e. The likes of MRI scanners etc etc etc being made available. But probably as important, we have seen the decline in nurse morale, nurse numbers and conditions to a frightening level for all which begs the question as to what their unions are doing to protect the profession and patients. So why not use your political influence and threaten to withdraw your services in order to protect patients and profession as often as ye do for money, then we would all be better off. Personally I believe nurses deserve greater pay and conditions and an liveable ‘ Dublin housing allowance’
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