FG embraces new, post-Georgian beginning

DÁIL REPORT:Baby Bruton faces the media with the fluency his boss pledged to master, writes MIRIAM LORD

THE CRISIS has passed for now.

The Mutterers – those scheming cut-throats – have been repelled.

Fine Gael’s brief flirtation with the Georgian era is over and the party has embraced a new beginning with a revamped Enda.

The Baby Bruton is on board, along with a loved-up front bench and lots of group hugs for everyone else.

Indakinny has promised to turn over a new leaf. He won’t be “overhandled” any more. “Here I am, I am myself and will be myself.”

George Lee put himself about with abandon on Monday. Yesterday, it was his former party leader’s turn. He was more select in his choice of interview settings, but did the rounds of the main TV and radio shows. One thing Enda didn’t do was appear on the plinth before the print journalists, where the flak would have come flying and might have been too demanding for a man trying to come to terms with his shortcomings on the media front.

It was Baby Bruton who was sent out to do this job, and he fielded all questions with the confidence and fluency that his boss has pledged to master.

As for George – it was like he never happened. The action had moved on, and as the former TD for Dublin South wandered around the Dáil carpark in search of a microphone, the air around Leinster House reverberated with the familiar sound of political ranks closing in the Fine Gael family.

Now, the talk was about Enda Kenny’s leadership and Richard Bruton’s intentions. After the morning’s front-bench meeting, deputies emerged, guarded, but on message. Enda had their full endorsement, although it would be going too far to describe it as ringing. But deputy Kenny was out of the woods.

The sense of relief in Fianna Fáil was huge.

They haven’t had much to smile about in recent months, and deputies found it hard to hide their pleasure at the Opposition’s discomfort. Some of the backbench gutties had a field day. “Jesus, we were fierce worried there for a while,” whooped one, as his colleagues beamed. “We thought Enda was finished. That would have been a disaster, sure he’s our greatest asset.” Instead, they were claiming a double victory. George – whom they deeply resented and feared, for his credibility with the voting public and his undoubted popularity – was off the pitch, and Enda was still in situ.

Back in Fine Gael, a sense of calm was returning. Some were even joking about their former colleague. “Poor RTÉ – the newsroom now has to cope with a broken Bird and a lame duck!” And: “When he couldn’t have his say, Georgie Porgie ran away!” In the afternoon, the focus was the Dáil chamber. Would Biffo turn the screw? What would the body language be like between Indakinny and the Baby Bruton? Nobody mentioned the war. But the smirkfest across the floor told its own story.

Enda seemed tired (he could hardly have had much sleep on Monday night and then had to up his game for a crucial round of interviews). In contrast, his second in command skipped down the stairs like a two-year-old. Kieran O’Donnell, deputy Finance spokesman, sat far away from him in the unfamiliar territory of the back row. The departing deputy Lee said the pair shut him out.

At one point, Kieran’s phone rang. “That’ll be George!” chortled his colleagues.

There was a sense of quiet satisfaction emanating from those deputies – from all parties – who represent Dublin South and the adjoining Dún Laoghaire constituency, where it was rumoured George might stand in the next election. They were happy to see this electoral steamroller decommissioned.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell, the ex-TD’s constituency colleague, was in the chamber. Commenting on his departure over the last couple of days, Olivia displayed a grasp of backhand shots of Wimbledon standard. There was no sign of the third FG deputy in the Dublin South, Alan Shatter. Too distraught, one supposes.

But the matter of the departing Lee had to be broached, and it fell to Ceann Comhairle, Captain Seamus T Kirk to formally announce that he had accepted George’s resignation.

There was no empty seat to look at, no spot which Georgie had made his own, no gaping hole where he used to be. He made such little impact, his absence wasn’t really noticed.

As Seamus read the notice, smirking rose to giddy levels across the floor and infected the Labour Party. Eamon Gilmore, who does serious well, battled to keep a straight face.

Fine Gael deputies looked a bit bashful, but some of them were smiling too. As for Indakinny, he buried his head in a document, like he wasn’t hearing a word.

But in the end, it was the new, improved Enda who finally mentioned – in a sideways reference – the passing of George. It was rather clever, as he used the proposed election of a lord mayor to clear the air.

“It’s not that I have a recently freed candidate for this...” he began, and everyone giggled and the tension evaporated on the Fine Gael side.