“You would almost think there was an election coming up.”
Jarlath Burns landed his shot on Monday as another instalment of the GAA versus the Government got into gear. This clash now looks like it might become an annual fixture, as the Jones’ Road contingent renewed rivalries with their cross-town Merrion Street opponents.
Michéal Martin initiated the first bout a year ago after matches between Cork and Tipperary and Clare and Limerick were put behind the GAAGo paywall rather than on free-to-air television. That led to the full rigmarole of Oireachtas committee hearings and untold column inches matched only by hours of broadcast coverage - arguably more than the games themselves.
He had another nibble at Christmas, but this spring saw his lunch being eaten by Taoiseach Simon Harris, who steamed in last week declaring the GAA “got it wrong” about the streaming service.
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Flushed from the weekend’s excitement in (SuperValu) Páirc Uí Chaomih, the Corkonian Tánaiste was unlikely to pass up his shot, and followed up on Monday. As one wag observed yesterday, Martin’s view can be concisely captured as wanting all the games to be on TV given all the money the GAA gets.
Especially the Cork ones.
GAA president Burns is not taking this lying down, and seems in no mood to act as a political punching bag - levelling his charge of electioneering in return. Burns’s comments get to the heart of a broader truth for the Government and its leaders: absolutely everything they do for the next 10 months is going to be viewed through the lens of the coming elections - whether it really is political theatre, or something more substantive.
Naturally, there is nothing quite as important as the Munster Hurling Championship, but whether it’s a skirmish with the GAA or the budget, immigration, housing or bailing out small business, the focus on everything is sharpened as voters begin to tune in ahead of going to the polls.
Expect the GAA row to rumble on, but the main centre of the political week is likely to be immigration once again, with more cuts to entitlements on the way for Ukrainian refugees, as we report this morning.
Best reads
From Ukraine itself comes news of a renewed Russian onslaught.
With the legal age for buying cigarettes going up, should the voting age be going in the other direction? A political scientist and a youth leader debate it out.
Laura Slattery argues that the time has come to end election broadcast moratoriums.
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“I have an Audi A1, the smallest car in Kerry”: a Ukrainian woman standing for election in the Kingdom takes on Danny Healy-Rae.
Gavin Cummiskey visits Dalymount Park ahead of a landmark fixture on Wednesday between Bohs and Palestine.
Playbook
Cabinet starts at 9.30am, and action in the Dáil begins at 2pm with Leaders’ Questions.
Here’s everything we know about what’s going to Cabinet.
In the afternoon, legislation amending divorce laws is being introduced, before Taoiseach’s questions at 3.10pm. Sinn Féin have a private members’ motion on the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, before Ossian Smyth takes oral PQs in his party leader’s place just before 8pm.
The full schedule is here.
At the committees, the National Energy and Climate Plan is up for discussion at the Environment Committee at 11am. The need for greater regulation of the English language schools operating in Ireland is being discussed at the Education Committee at the same time.
In the afternoon, parental bereavement leave legislation is being discussed with officials and parents. That’s at 3pm, while across the corridor, the Housing Committee is looking at the defective concrete blocks grant scheme.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin is at the Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss partnership programmes with Nato at 3.15pm.
Here is the full schedule.
Several Ministers are on the road, including Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan, who is in Paris for an International Energy Agency event, before travelling on to Bruges for talks with the Belgians about interconnection (a tripartite deal between the UK, Ireland and Belgium is in the offing, it seems). Minister for Finance Michael McGrath is in Brussels for a meeting of the Eurogroup.
In the Seanad, commencement matters and the order of business open matters at lunchtime, before the second stage of the Gambling Regulation Bill is taken in the afternoon.
The full schedule is here.
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