Another week, another row in Government over an issue that has become a running sore for the entire lifetime of the administration: the appointment of a judge.
Differences flared between the Independent Alliance and Fine Gael before the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, as Shane Ross objected to an agenda item which proposed the nomination of Judge George Bermingham as President of the Court of Appeal, one of the three most senior judicial offices in the State.
Mr Ross had been in contact with the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan on the proposed appointment over the weekend, without resolution. Mr Flanagan is not the most patient man in Ireland, but he was trying to keep his exasperation in check. At a meeting before Cabinet, Mr Ross claimed he was being "taken for a ride" on the Judicial Appointments Bill, and warned he would not sanction any more such appointments. But he has threatened this step on several occasions since late 2016, only to later relent each time.
Mr Flanagan wondered why he was Minister for Justice if he couldn't bring judicial appointments to Cabinet. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tried to keep a lid on things. Mr Ross ally and Cabinet "super-junior" Finian McGrath was present, as was Attorney General Séamus Woulfe.
At the Cabinet meeting itself, Mr Ross told Ministers there had been an independent process to select the judge, and George Bermingham was a clear winner. However, to the confusion of many Ministers, he described the appointment as “controversial”.
But if the process he insisted on was followed, how could it be controversial? A number of Ministers have grumbled about it since; others just threw their eyes up to heaven when asked about it.
The brutal political fact is that Shane Ross's leverage is severely diminished, and he is running out of time
Afterwards, Mr Ross met the Independent Alliance Ministers, where his colleagues told him that sanctioning the appointment of judges wouldn't be a problem if he didn't keep saying "this is the last time". Mr Ross told them Mr Flanagan had threatened to resign – something the Taoiseach would later deny when it was reported in The Irish Times. But Mr McGrath backed Mr Ross's account of the meeting.
Reforming priority
Mr Ross has made a policy priority of reforming the way judges are appointed, but the legislation has stuttered and stalled at various stages since it was first promised in 2016 as part of the Programme for Government. Last year, Mr Ross’s spokeswoman was telling reporters they expected the new law to be enacted by the summer – ie, the summer of 2017.
Summer came and went. Now the legislation has passed its second stage in the Dáil, and its committee stage. It returns soon – when isn't clear – to the Dáil, but it has been heavily amended. Famously, the Attorney General Mr Woulfe recently described it as a "dog's dinner" – comments which infuriated Mr Ross, say Government insiders.
Now the Government will propose 50 amendments when the Bill returns for report stage in the Dáil – a forum in which, remember, the Government does not command a majority, and therefore cannot ordain its preferred outcome. Speaking privately, Government sources reckon it is “touch and go” whether the Bill ever gets passed.
Political landscape
Shane Ross can see all this, of course; he is an acute reader of the political landscape. He knows however much the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice may say that they want to pass the Bill, there are many others in Fine Gael who are deeply uncomfortable with it, believing it undermines the judiciary. Fine Gael’s culture reveres the institutions of the State, and they believe this is the sort of thing that Fine Gael should not be doing – cutting a political deal which harms one of the pillars of the State.
They are also offended by Mr Ross’s – once frequent, now merely occasional – assaults on the judiciary as a bastion of entrenched privilege, cronyism and political jobbery. And frankly, Mr Ross is not popular with his ministerial colleagues. At the Fine Gael Ministers’ pre-Cabinet meeting on Tuesday there was much criticism of Shane Ross for his failure to inform them what was going on in his department.
But Mr Ross is agitated about another matter which is also more properly the preserve of the Minister for Justice – the proposed re-opening of Stepaside Garda Station in his constituency. He has made this a personal crusade; earlier this year, he described it to The Irish Times as "my baby".
Pestering
Mr Ross raises the Stepaside issue with the Department of Justice frequently. “Constant pestering” is how one official describes his contacts with the department, “alternating between Stepaside and judicial appointments . . . Constant, often at weekends, ringing, text messages . . .”
A review of the closure of Garda stations last year recommended that Stepaside should be considered for re-opening, to Mr Ross’s delight. But to his continuing impatience, it remains closed. Despite his urgings, the baby has not yet been delivered.
Last week, in response to questions from The Irish Times, the Office of Public Works said it had been asked "to undertake technical surveys and determine what works may be required to enable a number of Garda Stations, including Stepaside Garda station, to reopen and a 'brief of requirements' was received in January 2018".
"Full reports detailing drawings, scope of works, condition reports, eg asbestos, M&E, etc, along with indicative costings have recently been provided to An Garda Síochána for their consideration.
“We await their response and instruction,” the statement concluded. It doesn’t exactly throb with urgency.
It is known (because they have said so) that the Garda hierarchy is not keen on re-opening Stepaside; they have other priorities in the Dublin area. And they are not especially receptive to political pressure in the current circumstances.
“There is not a snowball’s chance in hell that Stepaside will be reopened before the election,” said one justice source. “And he’s probably not going to get the Bill done either.”
The brutal political fact is that Shane Ross’s leverage is severely diminished, and he is running out of time. He could quit Government in protest at the lack of progress on the Bill, but what would that achieve? His Independent colleagues would not follow him, they have made that much clear. The alliance has its own problems over ministerial posts, and is no longer really functioning as a cohesive unit.
Everyone who inhabits the political world has a yearning to see what it’s like on the inside – to be at the Cabinet table, to take and shape decisions that affect the country’s future, to wield power, to bask in the warm glow of real insider knowledge. Shane Ross was no different. But he has refused to truly be a part of that world, to work its levers, to play by its rules. He has continued to be an outsider. It has not made for a happy or productive experience in Government.
