Lise Hand: Unusual suspects give House a jolt as FF tries to bolt through key vote
Friday December 11 2009
IT wasn't just the usual suspects who were in Leinster House yesterday in the eerily calm aftermath of Budget Day. Or rather it was, sort of.
For if Brian Cowen had looked up at the Visitors' Gallery as he started his Budget statement, he would've spotted Gabriel Byrne among the audience.
Gabriel, along with chairman of the American Ireland Fund Loretta Glucksman, was paying a visit to Micheal Martin to thank the minister for somehow miraculously conjuring up a €2.3m grant to build a spanking new Irish Arts Centre in Manhattan.
The Irish actor certainly brightened up the rather gloomy corridors of power.
"It's a huge boost, and not just for the artistic community in New York but for the entire global community, including business," explained Gabriel.
"The business and arts worlds used to be distrustful of each other, but the conference at Farmleigh showed how they can work together," he said enthusiastically, referring to Micheal's starry talking-shop of shakers and movers which took place in Farmleigh in September.
In fact, the office of the foreign affairs minister was a bit like 'Celebrity Squares' yesterday -- no sooner had Gabriel left the building, than Father Michael Sinnott arrived to meet with Micheal.
The Wexford-born priest, who was held hostage in the Philippines for 31 days, flew home to Ireland last week.
And it was just as well that a bit of celebrity was knocking about the place, for a dull torpor hung over Leinster House on the morning after the fright before.
Never was a Budget so fearfully anticipated, but instead of sparking a conflagration of fireworks, it appeared to fizzle into a bit of a damp squib.
However, the Opposition haven't entirely given up hope that a few snakes will slither into the Government's Garden of Eden, and Eamon Gilmore was up for a bit of mischief-making during the morning's Order of Business.
No sooner had the Taoiseach read out the running order than the Labour leader was on his feet complaining bitterly about the Government's strategy of hustling the Social Welfare Bill through the House before the weekend when backbenchers would have to make the long walk of shame home to their constituencies.
"What we have are arrangements that are designed to ensure that no supporter of the Government disappears from the voting lobby," reckoned Eamon.
"They have been herded into the House this week and they will be got through the lobby before they get out on Friday evening."
But he was still holding out some hope that the Six Independent Horsemen may shy away from voting for the Apocalypse, and named the runners and riders.
"There are six deputies who are not subject to a Whip, namely, Deputy Healy Rae, Deputy Lowry, Deputy Grealish, who declare themselves to be Independents, and Deputy McDaid, Deputy Devins and Deputy Scanlon, who tell us that they are no longer subject to the Whip," Eamon reminded the House.
"All of those deputies are free to vote as they wish on those bills, but the arrangements that are being proposed in the House amount to a devious and undemocratic political device that is denying the right of members of the House to express their opinions. It is grossly unfair to the people we represent," he insisted.
Even Sinn Fein's Caoimhghin O Caolain was in agreement with Eamon.
"I agree with the previous speaker that this is all about ensuring government deputies, backbenchers in particular, do not find themselves under serious pressure over the weekend, take a fit of the jitters and become unable to sustain their support for the Social Welfare Bill measures in the subsequent week or post-Christmas," he said.
THE Taoiseach, perhaps mindful that he was off to Brussels later in the day and needed to conserve his energy for that high-powered pow-wow, wasn't in the mood to put up with the constant hum of heckling that rose from the Labour benches every time he stood to reply to a question.
After a bit of a sustained barrage from Joe Costello, an exasperated Brian threw in the towel.
"I am not allowed to answer. Every time I stand up I am interrupted. It is a racket. I am not doing it anymore," he sulked.
Eamon hurled a deft barb.
"This is the first post-Budget strike. The Taoiseach is refusing to answer questions," he joked.
But Brian returned a zinger. "It will be more than one day," he needled. "We can arrange that," reckoned Eamon. However, there was a lack of conviction or energy about the ensuing debate on the Social Welfare Bill -- although there was a farcical outbreak of disorder during the afternoon, when what began as a quibble over voting procedure between Labour's Emmet Stagg and Social Welfare Minister Mary Hanafin turned into a full-blown barney.
An increasingly irate Emmet refused to be silenced by the Ceann Comhairle who once again struggled to put manners on the shouting from all sides.
Every time he persuaded one Labour deputy to resume their seat, another one sprang up in protest.
"You're spreading disorder in parliament!" pleaded Seamus Kirk to a relentless Roisin Shortall.
"They're like jack-in-the-boxes," muttered Fianna Fail's Timmy Dooley.
Finally, as a last ploy, the quartet of Labour deputies called for a quorum and then promptly headed for the exit.
A deeply irritated Mary Hanafin watched Emmet and his colleagues leave.
"He probably just wanted a cigarette," she sniped. Perhaps, but this post-Budget debate had certainly run out of puff.
- Lise Hand
Irish Independent
