The corridors of Leinster House are teeming with Pokémon. It’s much the same across the bridge in Government Buildings.
Leo Varadkar’s nephew caught a Nidoran female in the ministerial corridor yesterday. We’ll take his word for it.
Young Nick was unable to tell us if any are lurking in the Dáil chamber. His phone was off when he was there with his sister Susannah and mother Sophie to see Uncle Leo take Leaders’ Questions for the first time in his parliamentary career.
That didn’t mean there wasn’t a game going on. After Varadkar completed his stint in the hot seat, he left colleagues on both sides of the House pondering future strategies, possible outcomes and probable winners.
Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald usually takes the helm for Leaders’ Question on Thursdays, facing spokespeople of corresponding rank. As Fianna Fáil doesn’t have a deputy leader, she never knows which leading light from Micheál Martin’s embarrassment of front bench talent will be the one asking her the questions.
Not that it seems to bother the Tánaiste, whose stewardship of the session continues to be steady. And no TD has emerged from Fianna Fáil’s Thursday showcase to cast shade on top dog Micheál. That would be the way he likes it. But it all makes for rather dull fare.
Were it not for the big personality of Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, Thursday would be a guaranteed snoozefest. The absence of party leaders in favour of supporting acts means even smaller crowds for the Dáil’s daily set-piece event.
There simply isn’t enough power in the chamber to tempt in the political punters. But there was a definite change in the atmosphere yesterday.
Leo’s name is in the frame for the leadership of Fine Gael when Enda Kenny steps down. He pretends he doesn’t want to know about the race to succeed the party leader. That would be disloyal. He bashfully bats away the talk, knowing full well that nobody believes him.
There are others with claims to the crown – Frances Fitzgerald, for one, while Simon Coveney is the man everyone namechecks when the subject turns from Varadkar’s prospects. But for now, Leo is the one who gets mentioned first.
So news that he would be in charge for Leaders’ Questions sparked unusual interest. And more interesting again was the number of Fianna Fáil TDs who turned up to watch him.
Food for thought
Far more, as it transpired, than members of Leo’s party. They left – if the many private comments we heard last evening are anything to go by – with much food for thought.
Fianna Fáil’s concern over who succeeds Enda Kenny as leader of Fine Gael seems increasingly more of a worry to Fianna Fáil than it is to the party Kenny leads.
So how did Leo Varadkar get on? He did extremely well on his first outing. His sister Sophie, who watched from the public gallery with her children, was very proud of him afterwards. Although she pointed out that her visit to Dublin (she’s a consultant in London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital) had been arranged before Leo got the call for Leaders’ Questions.
The Tánaiste, who was in France yesterday with a delegation from Enterprise Ireland, called him on Wednesday night to see if he would mind stepping in for her. He had been briefed by officials from the Tánaiste’s office on the issues which were expected to come up.
Fianna Fáil’s Robert Troy raised the Government’s state of readiness for Brexit, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald went in with gusto on pay rises for politicians, Independent TD Michael Lowry (and housetrained supposedly feral Fine Gaeler) spoke as usual about Tipperary and the Greens’ Eamon Ryan raised childcare costs.
Ryan was the only one who broached the question of the race to succeed Enda Kenny (who was in Europe on EU business). Varadkar blushingly brushed the issue aside. But it was his response to McDonald which pushed all the right FG buttons and had them sitting up straight across the floor on the FF side of the chamber.
Pious approach
He ruled out pay rises for Ministers and Ministers of State then stuck the boot in on Sinn Féin’s approach to social welfare recipients in the North, and followed up by stitching in that party’s ostentatiously pious approach to pocketing the exact same payments from the State coffers as their Dáil colleagues while claiming their TDs only draw the average industrial wage.
The SF TDs bristled. “Hush now” shouted John Deasy, unusually heckling on behalf of Fine Gael (or was it Leo?).
Varadkar’s colleagues – there were few enough of them present – looked delighted. And the Fianna Fáil TDs looked every bit as pleased too.
His treatment of Ryan’s childcare question included an appraisal of Mary Harney’s Boston or Berlin approach to policy, via Scandinavia and Singapore, with a mention of Seattle thrown in.
“We should strive to take the best” from all countries and “design a vision for Ireland that suits our culture and aspirations. The aspiration of this Government is to support families.”
Even Paschal Donohoe was looking up at him in admiration, even though his leadership aspirations haven’t dimmed. Eamon Ryan wasn’t sure he would support Leo for the FG leadership if he continued with his childcare package.
This sparked great hilarity, with quips from all sides on Varadkar’s leadership prospects and questions on whether Ryan had joined Fine Gael.
Afterwards, Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher looked across at Leo. “That was a reasonably good first audition,” he remarked.
Leo smiled, fixed his tie and replied “Why, thank you!”
Later on, FF and FG deputies discussed his performance. “It’s the talk of the place” said a Fine Gael backbencher. Leo has given them a lot to think about.
