Meanwhile, nothing much happening back at the Seanad, but let’s talk about a Senator or rather who the Senator knows…

…there was another interesting interview by Jason O’Toole in the Mail this last while which dealt with Fianna Fáil Senator Geraldine Feeney. Now Feeney has genuinely had a tough time of it with a husband who died at the age of 39. And more than one of us will feel some sympathy on a human level with the following:

I went through a phase of hating to go into functions, whether they were social or political functions, on my own. ‘I don’t think, whether you’re a man or a woman, it’s comfortable going into a gathering on your own and I just had to get my head around it. ‘It’s difficult insofar as I’m a very fun type of a person; I like to be out, I have a nice social life and I go to a lot of events and it’s nice to have somebody to bring with you, and it’s nice to walk in with somebody and it’s nice to walk out with somebody.

The political content is intriguing seeing as it allows us a little window into the rather closed world of the innermost circle of Fianna Fáil at this point in time.

As one of the most unpopular taoisigh in living memory, Brian Cowen has faced a barrage of negativity, not just about his Government’s policies, but also about some personal issues. Geraldine insists that any personal criticism —such as comments about his appearance or suggestions that he’s a heavy drinker — doesn’t affect the Taoiseach because he ‘has a way of shaking things off’.

It doesn’t look though as if it’s going to get any easier for him.

Still, he’s presented as quite a saintly figure… even – arguably – more than saintly…

‘The media will always pick on somebody. Brian Cowen to me certainly doesn’t have any baggage; there is nothing in his past that you could fault him on. He’s a true statesman. ‘But if times were different for us economically, if we didn’t have a global downturn, Brian Cowen certainly would be viewed in a much different light. ‘I have no hesitation in saying to you, it’s country first and party political stuff after that. Nothing will take his eye off the ball when it comes to his country.’ And, as someone who has known Brian Cowen since his childhood, Geraldine maintains that the speculation about him being a heavy drinker is complete rubbish. ‘I would be very hurt by it because the Brian Cowen I know is a very normal man; he enjoys a few drinks with good friends and I think that’s a very normal attribute in a person. ‘He’s a good man for spinning a yarn, telling a joke, a good all-rounder. I think Brian Cowen is a shy man and I think that’s a nice trait. Also, Brian Cowen is a very modest man.’

No doubt. And beyond the ‘country first’ what of the ‘political stuff’?

Geraldine, who is on the national executive of Fianna Fáil, also insists that the rumours of division in the party over Brian Cowen’s leadership style are ‘hyped up’. She continues: ‘It’s only two people. I won’t even say a handful of people. I have to say to you that 98 per cent of the parliamentary party voiced that loyalty to him last week. Brian Cowen is a consensus leader; he doesn’t stop anybody talking. ‘He said: “I don’t expect you all to like me or love me, but I do expect respect because I give each one of you respect”.’

Okay. Meanwhile, what of the other ‘political stuff’?

As Fianna Fáil Seanad spokesman for health and children, Geraldine says that ‘it’s not on’ that patients have to spend endless hours on trolleys waiting for medical attention and she believes that the HSE needs to be revamped. ‘It was to be the saviour of all, but it hasn’t worked that way. There has to be a major change in the running of the HSE. ‘I don’t believe it’s right to have one CEO and that’s no criticism of Professor Drumm, I support him and applaud him. ‘It’s too big for any one man to see over; I think there has to be at least two or three people at the same level as Professor Drumm; say maybe one person looking after hospitals and another person looking after budgets. ‘It can’t all be left to one person. It has to be revamped.’

Hmmmm…

What of this?

…when she addressed the Ryan and Murphy reports in Seanad debates. She says: ‘It was a cover-up by State and the Church. Shame on us. What did we do to (Bishop) Eamon Casey? A man that was doing what comes naturally to people, we banished him to the darkest South America and he was never to come home; and even still he’s silenced. ‘Yet children, the most vulnerable of children, were suffering at the hands of these clerics.’ Does she believe that the Department Of Education and even former taoisigh are culpable in this cover up? ‘Absolutely, there was cover-up everywhere. More than the Department Of Education, the Department Of Justice. ‘I would say that De Valera knew about it back in the Thirties and Forties. I would say (former Archbishop) John Charles McQuaid knew about it. I would say they all knew about it, but didn’t know what to do about it.’

Hmmmm… redux.

The Archbishop Of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, recently caused controversy when he suggested that the Catholic Church in Ireland had lost all credibility. Would she agree with this or was his criticism too strong? ‘I would go that strong. I think the Church has lost a lot of credibility,’ she states, but adds that she believes Archbishop Diarmuid Martin ‘is a very good man’ who is ‘battling against the tide’ and ‘has to be supported’.

Continents shake. Glaciers shift. The Church is in crisis. All is in turmoil. And Fianna Fáil are in polling decline. Who knows what will happen next?