Date Published: 05-Nov-2009

Am I the only one who has noticed the number of very high profile ‘gigs’ which FF Deputy Frank Fahey got recently on the national airwaves – largely in relation to the hugely important NAMA legislation which was going through the Dáil, and precisely what it would mean for the taxpayer?

Fahey found himself repeatedly on Morning Ireland against no less foes than Richard Bruton TD (Fine Gael Deputy Leader) and George Lee TD, one of the Fine Gael ‘hottest new properties’ and a man surely destined for high office if Enda Kenny is the next Taoiseach, as now seems likely if the opinion polls are even vaguely accurate.

What is important to note about these stints on radio on very high-profile occasions like Morning Ireland is that these appearances do not come lightly. First of all, Fahey would have to be chosen by the Government Press Office as the man to go on and ‘mark’ the likes of very impressive performers like Bruton and Lee.

And, equally importantly, Fine Gael would have to feel that Fahey was important enough to put on one of their frontline men. The sort of negotiations that go on before these appearances, are detailed and sometimes mind-boggling.

The perception would be that Fahey was well in charge of his brief in these and other appearances – but that is hardly surprising, given that he is very close indeed to Boss Man Brian Cowen, and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.

Many will have noted also that he acted as Lenihan’s ‘sidekick’ during much of the committee stage of the NAMA legislation marathon in the Dáil chamber during last week. Garlic may be the reason he chose to sit behind Lenihan during some of those sessions.

The links don’t appear to end there . . . for there is word that Fahey was one of the first to introduce Finance Advisor, Dr Alan Aherne (ex-NUI, Galway and the US Fed) to Lenihan.

Ahern is now the fulltime guru in the Department of Finance and may even have briefed Fahey prior to his radio stints.Meantime, the Fahey appearances will not have gone unnoticed among Fahey’s political rivals in Galway West, where Fahey may have to defend his seat in tough times for FF. One of those FF ‘family seats’ (Éamon Ó Cuív, Fahey and Noel Grealish), could be vulnerable to Fine Gael attack, with Labour’s Michael D Higgins tipped to potentially top the poll if current opinion poll trends hold.

And his rivals will have noted that Fahey was chosen as the man to announce the important new scheme to help couples who are in difficulties in paying their mortgages – many of them because of the loss of a job, or because overtime or wages have been cut in the midst of the recession.

Fahey pointed out that the scheme was part of the Programme for Government. Under the plan, he said, the Government would subsidise interest rates so that couples would pay the interest on their mortgage, but that the basic agreement would ensure that the couple would not lose their house.

He said the new measures to be brought in would include reduced rates; longer maturity dates; rolling up of outstanding interest; the bank taking an equity interest in the house; the bank taking ownership and leasing it back to the resident with rent payments coming off the loan.

“What is important in this scheme is that couples should approach the Community Welfare Officer and should make an agreement with their building society or bank,” said Fahey.

“It is important that they should approach their bank or building society if they are having difficulty . . . the whole idea behind this scheme is that couples would not lose their homes because they are in difficulty, essentially though no fault of their own.

“They have been hit by difficulties like the loss of a job, or shorter working time or wage cuts, and we simply have to take account of these difficult circumstances for couples who are blameless in this situation.”

If Enda Kenny had a mind to, he could have sent seven “to traps” at Galway Greyhound Track on Friday night – for, on parade, were the entire line-up of possible candidates for FG in Galway West, an impossible choice for Kenny who has still to sort out the runners in both Galway East and Galway West constituencies.

Fine Gael are said to have raised a total of €15,000 in election funding on Friday night at the dogs in Galway, but the real interest for those observing was for any indicator of just who would be ‘on the ticket’ for the next election – from a potential series of runners that includes: TD Padraic McCormack, Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames, Councillors Padraig Conneely, Brian Walsh, Sean Kyne and Hildegarde Naughton, and Joe Lee, who ran for FG in the Local Elections in Connemara.If they brought in the possible contenders from Galway East – Paul Connaughton TD, Ulick Burke TD, Senator Ciaran Cannon, Councillor Tom McHugh and Dr John Barton – they would have a true measure of the Fine Gael dilemma in picking its Galway tickets. They could have run a meeting of their own.

Fine Gael feel sure that they must gain a seat in Galway West and the word now in informed circles is that they may be looking to appoint a senior minister from Galway, if they bring in that second seat in Galway West. But FG will have to push their vote from the 20% of last time to certainly close to 30% if that dream of a second seat is to become a reality.

During the ‘night at the dogs’, Kenny was full of vim and vigour and looking the part of a Taoiseach-in-Waiting, but he’s got to wait for the tottering Government that still stubbornly refuses to fall, and then he’s got to ensure that Galway West delivers two seats, a thing it hasn’t done since 1982 (John Donnellan and Fintan Coogan Jnr).

Meanwhile, on the above count, he’s got seven possible starters in Galway West alone . . . maybe they need an extra ‘trap’ in Fine Gael apart from the usual six in dog racing. But then that ‘hare’ Cowen still stubbornly refuses to run.It was only part of Kenny’s appointments on the night – for, before he went to the dogs, he visited the cast of Who Killed The Celtic Tiger, a political spoof in which Hildegarde Naughton was playing the part of Mary Harney.

Meanwhile, missing on the night – not surprisingly – was PD Dáil Deputy Noel Grealish, who has been courted by Fine Gael in recent months, but who hasn’t the slightest interest in joining Fine Gael in Galway, despite VIP approaches in the background. I heard on the grapevine that, like a lot of others, Grealish bought a ticket for the Fine Gael ‘night at the dogs’, but he didn’t attend . . . probably for fear of the rumours it would start again. Listen, he ain’t joining Fine Gael.

In the meantime, there will be another major FG ‘gig’ in Galway on Monday next (10am to 12.30pm) when what amounts to most of its heavy hitters – Kenny, Bruton, Lee, Leo Varadkar, Simon Coveney Kieran O’Donnell, to name but a few – will be doing a session for business and community leaders from the west, in the Menlo Park. It is intended as a jobs creation think-in and is part of a Kenny series around the country entitled ‘Working Together’, which is aimed at job retention and creation and finding the thoughts of business people.