Freshly confirmed presidential candidate Catherine Connolly made a brief trip to the Dáil chamber to ask “a specific question” about an external review into spinal care in Temple Street hospital which began nearly two years ago and is still at phase one.
She went into some detail, because there is “disquiet on the ground and people are asking for an independent inquiry”. Could Jim O’Callaghan, standing in for the Taoiseach, give a date for the publication of this report and has the relevant Minister seen it yet?
Jim, whose department is Justice, didn’t know the answer but he undertook to ask the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, to give him the specific information she requested.
As the sole sitting TD among three starters in the race for the presidency, Catherine is the only one who will be able to raise issues in the Dáil during the campaign.
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This may or may not be to her advantage as proceedings in the Lower House will not be as minutely monitored as the hurry-scurries on the election trail in the next month or so.
The contest began officially at midday with the close of nominations and an immediate outbreak of handbags at dawn, sorry, handbag at Dáil, outside the gates of Leinster House.
It’s a woman’s right to choose how she spends her money and that’s the way it should be
Such is the fascination with this election, the press gallery inside was deserted during Leaders’ Questions as journalists piled outside to hear what the Iona Institute’s Maria Steen, who failed to secure enough nominations from Oireachtas members to get on the ticket, had to say.
Quite a lot, as it transpired, but this was after the event for the experienced conservative and Catholic values crusader. It was in marked contrast to a fairly non-existent campaign which only sparked into life over the past week.
She was bitterly disappointed by the outcome.
“Rarely has the political consensus seemed more oppressive or detached from the wishes and desires of the public,” she declared, lamenting at length for the media.
Although she was very grateful to the 18 “true democrats”, some of whom do not share her views, who agreed to sign her nomination papers so she could run.
So where did that put those parliamentarians who did not endorse her? Were they not exercising their democratic choice too?
The discussion around the corridors was about the intensity of the campaign run by supporters of the South Dublin mother of five who clearly believed they could land the 20 nominees needed to get their woman across the line.
But their steamroller tactics riled some non-aligned TDs and Senators who didn’t take too kindly to being lectured on their commitment to democracy and who wouldn’t be browbeaten into acquiescence.
As the late, kindly Larry Gogan used to say when a contestant bombed during his Just a Minute Quiz: “The questions didn’t suit you today.”
Maybe somebody should have taken Maria aside and gently told her: “The democracy didn’t suit you today.”
It didn’t suit her last big group of supporters either. The lads from Independent Ireland, who waited and waited to declare their support for her, stipulating they would make their decision only if she was within sight of the winning post, were fairly sore about the outcome too.
Party leader Michael Collins was on his feet in the Dáil not an hour after the poignant scenes outside the gates calling for a change to the system of choosing candidates to contest the presidency.
This strange episode left a sour taste on both sides of the argument.
The angry response from supporters of Maria Steen was characterised by unfounded bleatings about the death of democracy.
The unsuccessful contender dramatically declared: “The response from the public in recent days confirms the hunger that there is for an alternative candidate. Sadly, that hunger will now go unsatisfied.”
Maybe if the potential candidate -who is a very impressive communicator and would undoubtedly have polled well – had put more work into a campaign she would have reaped the return.
“You can’t expect to win a marathon if you’ve only started training a few weeks before the race,” remarked a Government TD as the scenes outside the gates unfolded.
But for all the drama and the crushed feelings, the most talked about story to emerge from Maria and her supporters falling short emerged on social media when she was doing her swansong.
Wait, people who know these things asked. Is that a Hermès bag? Not only that, but is it a Hermès Kelly bag?
Among those taking to social media to marvel at the appearance of a bone fide Kelly on the arm of mainstream mum Maria was drag artiste Pantibliss.
The internet exploded. That bag is stratospherically expensive, gasped people. Prices north of €10,000 for similar models were being cited online. But it seems the replicas are also very good and can be picked up for a song in Turkey and Torremolinos so it was unfair on the part of all those who scoffed at her comment about people being “detached from the wishes and desires of the public”.
Handbags at Dáil, though. Who’d have thought that would be the big talking point?
Whatever, it’s a bag for life.
It’s a woman’s right to choose how she spends her money and that’s the way it should be, Dior Gratias, as they say in BTs.
Anyway, the posters went up on Wednesday morning.
And far away in New York, the Taoiseach had to abandon his talk of what was happening in the United Nations to stress that Maria Steen’s failure to secure a nomination was not anti-democratic.
Independent candidate Connolly, still trying to do her Dáil duty when conducting a campaign, talked outside about preserving the triple-lock on Irish neutrality and did a number of interviews.
Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin was pressing the flesh in county Meath and he did two radio interviews where he stressed that he is all about positivity and “the threads that bind us together”.
Former government minister and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys did the first election photo-op of the campaign.
Headquarters sent out a tantalising notice: “Heather Humphreys to hang campaign poster in Central Dublin”.
Sure you had to be there.
The event happened, conveniently, at the end of Mount Street, up from the party offices. Heather arrived in one of the liveried campaign cars – a Hyundai Tucson in a sludgy shade of green.
A yellow and blue stepladder was positioned at a lamp-post beside the Pepper Cannister Church. Heather plunged into the small crowd of handlers and hacks. A poster was produced and she headed for the ladder.
“Do you want a hand?” inquired a nervous looking young staffer.
“No boddur!” she cried, grabbing the rails. Martin Heydon, the Minister for Agriculture and Director of Elections, put a steadying foot on the bottom rung. He’s a farmer and knows how to do these things.
“No boddur!” said Heather again, grabbing the poster. “Keep her straight! Now. There we go.”
This was a photo call only, the notice stressed. But she answered some questions anyway.
The former minister was asked if she was disappointed not to be facing off against Maria Steen.
She didn’t take the bait, but responded with a smile which put us in mind of that legendary quote from the planning tribunals about the moneybags developer who was asked if he would issue a receipt: “Will I f*ck!”
“I’m really looking forward to being out and about” she replied.
It was a brief photo call. Once the job was done, Heather climbed down the ladder and somebody took the poster away.
Back in Leinster House, the talk returned to Hermès bags. Did you know that you can’t just buy one? And that there are quota and non-quota bags and starter bags and list systems and even then you might have to take whatever bag which could cost tens of thousands is offered.
Not very democratic.
No boddur.
