Dáil Watch 2: Memory and forgetting… or, it’s getting heated between SF and Labour in the Dáil… February 20, 2012
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics, The Left.trackback
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   Will the Government take the Priority Hall matter in hand? Will the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, meet with the residents? Will he help to co-ordinate the search for a solution involving all concerned – the Minister himself, the residents, Dublin City Council and the banks?
Deputies: And the developer.
The Tánaiste:   The Priory Hall residents were failed in the first instance by a Sinn Féin developer.
Deputies: Hear, hear.
(Interruptions).
Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:   That is a disgrace. The developer is a political opponent of Sinn Féin. That is an absolute disgrace.
Deputy Brian Stanley:   That is Sticky propaganda.
(Interruptions).
Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:   The Tánaiste should withdraw that disgraceful remark.
(Interruptions).
An Ceann Comhairle:   Order. Will Deputy Mac Lochlainn resume his seat?
Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:   The Tánaiste should withdraw that remark. The developer is a political opponent of Sinn Féin. We stood against him over the years.
An Ceann Comhairle:   Can I have a reply to the Deputy’s question, Tánaiste?
The Tánaiste:   I will not withdraw. The Priory Hall residents were failed by a developer who, when Sinn Féin was going respectable put on an Armani suit, like so many others—–
Deputy Dessie Ellis:   Will you stop?
(Interruptions).
Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:   That is a disgrace. He is an opponent of Sinn Féin.
Deputy Brian Stanley:   Hold on to your Sticky propaganda.
The Tánaiste:   In this particular case, the developer in question constructed a development which has left these people out of their homes.
Deputy Martin Ferris:   The Tánaiste’s Dear Great Leader from North Korea has passed away.
Deputy Brian Stanley:   That is a Sticky lie.
And there’s more…
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   The Tánaiste should know dodging answering questions with the kind of inaccurate waffle he delivered at the beginning of his response is unedifying.
Deputy Pat Deering:   It is the truth.
(Interruptions).
An Ceann Comhairle:   The Deputy is entitled to a reply.
(Interruptions).
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   It is a bit ironic that the man who lectures on respectability comes from an outfit that was very close to North Korea and was quite adept at running off dodgy fivers.
Deputy Jerry Buttimer:   What about Colombia?
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   The Tánaiste might remember his own past too.
(Interruptions).
An Ceann Comhairle:   Can I have some order please for the Deputy?
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   The Tánaiste did not answer the question as to why the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, refuses to meet with the Priory Hall residents.
Deputy Finian McGrath:   He is dodging again.
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   The Tánaiste claims there is a priority and an urgency around making these homes safe, with which I agree. However, there is no signal of urgency on the part of the Government. This contrasts sharply with the urgency with which it moved a statutory instrument to award over €17,000 extra to the Minister of State for housing and planning, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, for the glory of her attending Cabinet meetings which is actually part of her job description.
An Ceann Comhairle:   Can I have your question Deputy as you are over time?
Deputy Jerry Buttimer:   What about Sinn Féin’s Westminster expenses?
Deputy Michael McCarthy:   What about Sinn Féin fund-raising?
Deputy Jerry Buttimer:   Deputy Mac Lochlainn is quiet now.
(Interruptions).
An Ceann Comhairle:   Can I have your question Deputy as you are over time?
Deputy Jerry Buttimer:   You are quiet now Pádraig.
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   When will the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan—–
Deputy Jerry Buttimer:   You are quiet now Pádraig.
Deputy Emmet Stagg:   They take the Queen’s shilling all right.
Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:   Calm down Jerry.
An Ceann Comhairle:   Will the Sinn Féin Members give their deputy leader a chance?
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   When will the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, meet with the residents concerned? What proactive strategy has the Government to address the issues at hand? Much as with the previous question on waste management in Dublin city, it is not acceptable for the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, to take two steps back and wash his hands of these important matters. Can we have a straight answer to when he will meet with the Priory Hall residents?
The Tánaiste:   The Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, has met with the residents of Priory Hall and is actively involved in dealing with this with Dublin City Council. She will meet again with the residents if that is necessary. The Government has considered the significantly difficult set of circumstances the residents of Priory Hall have found themselves in as a result of the appalling actions of the developer. That is where this problem——
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   As a result of no regulation.
Deputy Brendan Howlin:   It was the developer.
Deputy Kathleen Lynch:   It is a disgrace.
Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:   It was down to no regulation.
An Ceann Comhairle:   Will Deputy Mac Lochlainn allow the answer to the question? We are over time as it is.
The Tánaiste:   The Government will not carry the can for dodgy developers irrespective of with whom they have been associated.
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   And neither will we.
The Tánaiste:   Sinn Féin is closer to him than anyone in the Government.
Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn:   Anthony McIntyre is his agent. Is he a friend of Sinn Féin?
An Ceann Comhairle:   Would you stay quiet, please?
The Tánaiste:   The residents in this estate have a significant problem that needs to be addressed. There is a court action which is related to it which must take its own course. In the meantime, the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, is dealing with this issue. She has met with the residents of Priory Hall and will do so again. She is in touch with Dublin City Council on the issue. The Government will do everything it possibly can to get this issue resolved, the residents of Priory Hall back into their homes as quickly as possible—–
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   Except the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will not meet the residents.
The Tánaiste:   No, that is not the case.
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald:   Will you answer my question then?
The Tánaiste:   Deputy McDonald seems to be more interested in what the Minister is doing than she is in the residents.
Gone, gone and forgotten the thoughts Eamon Gilmore had when going for the LP leadership in the early 2000s about working more closely with SF and others on the broad left. Depressing to see the sheer inaccuracy of the ‘SF developer’ charge, and while there’s no reason not to point to the political history of various individuals, the ‘sticky’ charge seems a bit pointless given the subsequent journey of those it is made against. All the while not a hint of self-consciousness in the responses from some there about those histories.
But it does point to the reality that if Labour thought that hurling imprecations about SF in the North was going to cut it, or that green scares might do likewise, SF is clearly well capable of hurling imprecations back. And we’re hardly a year in…
In fairness to McIntyre he broke off any contact with McFeeley a good while ago and in any case he did try to ameliorate the situation.
Still I’m amazed Gilmore can get away with absolute crap like that. Suppose the bigger the lie the easier it is to swallow.
Absolutely re McIntyre.
This is so depressing but it’s a microcosm of the left in Ireland. There’s a real problem affecting real people right outside your door but you would rather sit in a room calling each other names.
Whatever you think about Sinn Fein – people on this site would have different views about how left-wing they are, if at all – what you see in this transcript is a bunch of right-wing politicians attacking Sinn Fein. Gilmore, Buttimer, Stagg, Howlin – they’re all cut from the same cloth. This is not the Left bickering amongst themselves. The Labour TDs being quoted here are conservative to the core. It’s depressing alright to be reading this stuff but it doesn’t tell us much about the state of the Irish Left
It’s the old old attitude. ‘We’re in now, you’re not, we’ll do what we want and there’s nothing you can do now till the next election in four years time.’ The Labour Party doesn’t believe that democracy is about anything other than giving members of the political class a turn in the big jobs. Hence their worry about the anti property charge campaigns. Citizens are not there to object to legislation, they’re there to vote once every five years and sit idly by while the gang they voted for gleefully break their promises. Anything else is subversive.
Labour are only dying for a coup or civil war in Greece so they can wag a gouty finger and say, ‘now, that’s where protest gets you.’
Labour get disparaged sometimes as merely being Social Democrats. But the fact is that at this stage of the game they’d have to move to the left to become Social Democrats,
I cant tell the difference between the invective coming from Labour in Leinster house and the invective coming from FG in the Seanaid.
I am sure Sinn Fein know already that there was little differene between Red and Blue but god doesnt this keep driving it home
And one more thing Emmet Stagg talking about taking the shilling is pathetic.
Or should I be be quiet and be thankful that a staunch republican like Emmet is striving tirelessly to build a real and genuine republic for us all.
You can see where Paul Gogarty was coming from alright. I wonder would it be ok for opposition TDs to carry a dictaphone with a recording of Gogarty’s outburst and play it every time Stagg pipes up – technically it wouldn’t be them breaking the rules of the house
What does it say when a Government spend so much time and energy attacking the opposition?
Even one with such a majority.
I think Miriam Lord made a comment in one of her columns last year, early on after the new government was formed, that their big majority would be their ruination – Kenny would just respond to any question with an irrelevant ad hominem for Martin, another for Adams, another for whoever was speaking on behalf of the indies; there would be no question of losing the vote and the chorus behind him would give a cheer no matter what he said. Hopefully a few people will see this kind of performance on TV and draw the appropriate conclusions