Political World

Leo the Lionheart – our politician of the year

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World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

There are no gongs, no monkey suits; no gala presentation. No – and if you are Politician of the Year, the best you can hope for is maybe a little less abuse than some of your colleagues.

So, here for what their worth, are mine – divined from months of painstaking research and scientific experimentation all conducted on the back of a betting slip.

It’s Leo Varadkar. A week ago I would have given it to him by a country mile but the last seven days have shown that for all his brilliance, the person who will conspire most against Leo’s advancement is Leo himself.

There were a number of contenders. Sinn Féin’s two stand-outs were Mary Lou McDonald and Pearse Doherty.

McDonald generates a lot of headlines but she’s becoming increasingly decisive and there were a breathtaking show of hypocrisy from her in November.

She protested ferociously (it led to another Dáil disruption) that Joan Burton had smeared Sinn Féin and the entire republican movement by saying that Domhnall Ó Lubhlaí, a sexual abuser, was “one of yours”.

Technically, Burton was right. But there was no doubt that she was being political and partisan when McDonald raised the issue of why no prosecution had ever been taken against him and why various investigations by Government Departments (Ó Lubhlaí was a teacher and also ran Irish language colleges) had run into the ground.

A week later, McDonald was doing a far bit of smearing of her own the following week. Without a scintilla of evidence, but using Dáil privilege, she suggested a number of former politicians, including former EU Commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn, had held Ansbacher accounts. It was risible and cyncial of McDonald.

All of the people named denied it. What was most cynical about her approach was she accepted they were only allegations but said they came from a very reputable source. It implied, sure, it had to be true. Of course it wasn’t.

In a more understated way, Doherty has been the more impressive performer from his party. He has mellowed a lot from the always-angry politician of a few years ago. His knowledge of the finance portfolio is impressive and his contributions to the banking inquiry have been impressive.

On the Fianna Fáil side a number of their politicians have impressed. Michael McGrath is very assured on finance, Sean Fleming made a great speech on budget night, while Billy Kelleher (health), Barry Cowen (environment) and Niall Collins (Justice) have all grown in stature in this term. But Micheál Martin the leader has still been the star of the show.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

 

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