Ms Coughlan doesn't do threats, but if she did . . .
The Enterprise and Employment Minister outside Leinster House
Friday May 09 2008
MARY Coughlan doesn't do veiled taunting threats. If she did, Eamon Gilmore would have been brushed off with her famed routine of laughing heartily, throwing back her hand dismissively and uttering: "Ah sure, would you go on out of that."
Throughout the years the tactic has disarmed opposition spokesmen who have unwittingly succumbed to her charms after asking a direct combative question.
Yesterday, however, in her elevated position as Tanaiste, the opposition learned that Ms Coughlan does not appreciate threats.
Especially on her first morning taking the Order of Business, which runs something like a bag of Pick 'n' Mix, with the opposition parties chucking legislative promises out.
Labour's claim that Fianna Fail was pandering to TV news bulletins in refusing to extend Wednesday night's Cabinet debate by an hour, enlivened what had been a rather dull start to Thursday business.
"If that practice continues into the future, then the members of this House, including the members of the Government, will be going through those lobbies considerably more often than they might expect," said a disgruntled Mr Gilmore. The threat was clear: Labour would slow down the business of the Dail and force the Government on a vote on more issues.
Up until the threat, Fianna Fail's first female Tanaiste had adopted an uncharacteristically serious demeanour and delivered unemotional, brief and pointed responses. Now, however, she had been beckoned to play a game of superiority, put down a marker and hit back.
Striking a tomboy-like pose by defensively shoving her left hand into her pocket, she stood confidently, looked seriously at Mr Gilmore and dealt the killer line.
"Luckily, as a woman of compassion, I do not take threats," she thundered.
Sensitive
Ms Coughlan was on top of her brief yesterday and, in some carefully deployed language, she made sure to be inclusive and sensitive, while also employing her old tactic of making deputies feel somewhat special.
The phraseology varied from: "We are all gravely concerned" to "I will communicate with you personally" to "The minister might facilitate you with a one-to-one".
They were all trying to lay claim to the Donegal TD.
Cavan-Monaghan hailed her as a "fellow Ulsterwoman", while the women across the House simply want to claim her because she is a woman in a prestigious position.
But unlike their female colleagues who acknowledged the Tanaiste's abilities, the men overindulged in condescending remarks.
Often their congratulations were reduced to remarking on her wardrobe of Wellingtons, the need to swap the wellies for "boardroom shoes", and expressing fears that her "Faisean Paisean" would have the women of the country sliding into debt in a bid to keep pace.
Ms Coughlan, however, stuck it to Fine Gael that they could now borrow her designer Wellingtons, as she leaves the Agriculture Department and its wellies behind.
But the Tanaiste proved she does do the serious, considered and robust responses. She just doesn't do threats.
- Aine Kerr Political Correspondent
