It was a day for fairytales and fantasies. In the Dáil, as usual, there was a great choice on offer.
From the compendium of stories, first out was health fantasyland, as described by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. He asked if Minister for Health James Reilly was in denial or "living in some fantasy land" as he accused him of "massaging" the hospital waiting list figures and doing a "con job" on them.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore told him the health service was always under pressure and the issue was how best to manage the demands. But if the best defence is offence and in political fisticuffs it usually is, then the Tánaiste is the old dog for the hard road. He used the endlessly repeated retort about Fianna Fáil’s record in government.
If Dr Reilly ever needed advice, he said, he certainly wouldn’t be going to Fianna Fáil and most definitely not to its leader, a former health minister, who of all people “was not able to manage the health service in the best of financial times”.
But Micheál Martin is around a long time too and was quick to retort that the Minister wouldn't be turning to former Labour minister of state Róisín Shortall, who resigned over the primary care centres selection controversy. "You're foursquare behind him."
Croke Park II
Then it was time for the biggest current controversy facing the Government, the rejected Croke Park agreement. Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin repeatedly pushed the Tánaiste to answer the question everyone is asking – will the Government unilaterally legislate to impose pay cuts on public sector workers?
Using the same defence every Government Minister has used, he reiterated that they had to calmly reflect, consider the verdict and talk to the unions. There was no getting a reply on that question, a make or break issue for the Labour Party. Even with the demand for a “yes” or “no” answer.
Instead the Tánaiste used the ever reliable – defence is offence – strategy and talked about Sinn Féin’s “fairytale economics”. But that party is just as adept at finding sensitive soft spots and Ó Caoláin hit back with fairytales from Labour.
“The clearest one was Labour’s way or Frankfurt's way . . . That was surely one hell of a fairytale and you've come up with many more.”
Not by a flicker, however, did the Tánaiste indicate how irritating that comment must surely be for him. Instead he accused Sinn Féin of being “more interested in how much of a hit they can score against the Labour Party than in either public sector workers or the interests of the country”.
Perhaps the best fairytale was mentioned by United Left Alliance TD Clare Daly, who suggested to the Tánaiste that since he "does not believe in struggle and solidarity", he should "go and join Fine Gael and bring Minister Howlin with you".
She highlighted massive youth unemployment and said the problem for the Tánaiste is that “you must try to spin the fairytale of ‘Eamon in wonderland’, a place where it is possible to magically squeeze blood from people who have nothing else to give”.
He retorted, however, that while they both shared concern about the level of youth unemployment and the problems of working people, “the difference between us is that you shout slogans at problems whereas I work in government to try to solve them”.
