Dr Debt leaves them dull-eyed with less than bullish speech

DÁIL SKETCH:THE FINE Gael backbenchers really wanted to show their support for their deputy leader. Despite the lateness of the hour, they packed the government benches.

How they wanted to applaud James Reilly, forced to make a personal statement in the Dáil after his name was published in Stubbs Gazette for defaulting on a huge debt.

Enda had promised earlier in the Dáil, and promised big: his Minister for Health would stand up in the chamber and clear away all the doubts about his costly venture in the nursing home business.

And if Reilly’s performance during last evening’s health debate was anything to go by, he would sweep away awkward questions about his doomed investment in private health care.

Reilly, formerly known as Bottler before recent revelations made him Dr Debt, was in bullish form. He steamed into Fianna Fáil with his studs showing. You could see the backbenchers were confident their Minister would play a blinder.

Then James stood and read his statement. It was a 10-minute tangle of complex legalese mixed with a bamboozle of dates and numbers and a bewildering thread of business jargon. His colleagues – backbench and ministerial – listened, growing duller of eye and more slack of jaw by the minute.

After he finished his colleagues sat, tranquilised by what they just heard. Not a sound from any of them. Incapable of applause. Nothing from the other side of the chamber either. And some of us gave thanks to God that at least Enda made Dr Reilly Minister for Health, and not Communications.

The Dáil’s appointment with Dr Debt (twice removed) was eagerly awaited in Leinster House.

It isn’t every day that a Minister for Health makes an appearance in Stubbs Gazette. In fact, Dr Reilly made history as the first government minister to be listed in the journal. Bet he won’t be pasting that cutting for posterity in his special scrapbook.

It’s all rather mortifying.

And mystifying, according to some, who couldn’t fathom how the deputy leader of Fine Gael didn’t think to mention to his leader and party that this particular embarrassment was coming down the line.

Entries in Stubbs follow court judgements. In the case of Not So Poor Aul Dicey Reilly, it concerned the small matter of an unpaid debt of €1.9 million.

When his name appeared on the High Court list of defaulters, it came as a bolt from the blue to him, and everybody else.

Even Mick Wallace tried to soften the blow of his imminent outing by the revenue authorities by doing a pre-emptive radio interview. Although in deputy Wallet’s case, he only served to make matters worse for himself.

In the long interlude between the Taoiseach’s announcement that Dr Debt (twice removed) would be making a late-night announcement in the House and the Minister’s eventual appearance, the case of Mick Wallets returned to fill the void.

The Members Interests Committee issued its report on his dirty dealings with the VATman. They could inquire no further into Mick’s affairs as the matter seemed to be out of their jurisdiction.

But they also pointed out that they found themselves in this situation because Mick wasn’t entirely co-operative.

Not that this seemed to bother deputy Wallets, who was in the pink yesterday, getting stuck into the Tánaiste during Foreign Affairs questions.

Perhaps he was pleased that somebody else – and a senior government minister to boot – was now in the ledger of shame.

But what exactly had James Reilly done? The opposition tried to find out. Mick Wallets looked on with interest from his eerie in the far corner.

Enda confidently reassured everybody that Not So Poor Aul Dicey Reilly was not in any trouble and would explain all in the chamber later on.

“He will be making his statement at 9.55 pm,” announced the Taoiseach, who is something of a night owl and wouldn’t have considered this time as particularly late.

Not so the Fianna Fáil leader, who eats an awful lot of fruit and likes to be in bed at a respectable hour. “Nine 55 is the most curious time to be having a debate, to be honest with you,” he told Enda with a crestfallen look, as his saw his mug of cocoa recede.

Meanwhile the Taoiseach explained that Minister Reilly, who had already declared his business interests, wasn’t hiding anything. He repeated his assertion from the previous day that Dr Debt was, in fact, twice removed from the entire affair.

With his strong defence of his deputy leader, Enda sounded like he felt on solid ground in this particular argument. Ruairí Quinn sat next to him, not looking too worried. The Labour wing of the Coalition can do a nice line in angst when required. Ruairí didn’t appear to be troubled.

For all the morning skirmishing, Opposition Deputies seemed content to wait and see what Dr Debt would have to say for himself last night. No point in doing the full Mick Wallets on him if he gave a good account of himself later on.

While the financial and legal travails of Not So Poor Aul Dicey Reilly engaged many around Leinster House, Gerry Adams concentrated on a different, more populist, angle.

Even if Dr Debt (twice removed) succeeded in nailing the controversy with his Dáil statement, it won’t take away from the fact that the man in charge of our public health service is a major investor in private healthcare.

That’s the sort of thing that could play on voters’ minds.