Galway tent an unhappy memory for FF

DÁIL SKETCH:FIANNA FÁIL is outside the tent in more senses than one these days. Severely depleted in numbers and reminded regularly of the Republic's dire state after 14 years of FF-led governments, the party's TDs stare morosely at the swollen Government benches from their lonely Opposition base.

The infamous Galway tent, meanwhile, is a distant and unhappy memory.

A fleeting image of that past flashed by Fianna Fáil deputy leader Brian Lenihan in the Dáil yesterday when Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett advised him that he should not infringe on his liberality or hospitality by ignoring standing orders on the Order of Business.

Lenihan readily agreed, adding: “I was never in a hospitality tent in my life.” Lenihan had once assured this writer that he had never crossed the threshold of the tent in those long-lost days when champagne flowed as the party celebrated the Celtic Tiger with developers at the Galway races.

But he was quick to add at the time that, in Lyndon Johnson’s oft-quoted and rather crude phrase, he never did anything less than decorous from outside the tent to rain on the parade of those inside pressing the flesh with then party leader Bertie Ahern.

Lenihan was equally restrained yesterday when he suggested to Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore that it might be desirable to have a Dáil vote on the Portuguese deal.

Gilmore said he would discuss the matter with Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, adding that Lenihan had been reluctant to have a vote on the Irish bailout when he had Noonan’s job.

Lenihan reminded Gilmore that there was a vote and wished Noonan well in Hungary.

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins, who sits behind the brooding Fianna Fáil group in the chamber, waved a copy of the Government’s legislative programme published on Tuesday.

The 40-odd pieces of legislation were borrowed from Fianna Fáil, he said, adding that the Coalition was a “kind of Johnny Forty Coats government”, borrowing clothing from the previous coalition.

Lenihan smiled and nodded in agreement.

Higgins recalled, in less than sympathetic tones, that Fianna Fáil was in a rather bedraggled condition by the time of the general election. “Is it Labour’s way or is it Fine Gael’s way as far as water charges are concerned?”

The Tánaiste said there was no legislative proposal on the issue, urging Higgins to do some revision on the programme with the aid of a government grind if he required it. If a legislative measure was required, it would be advised to the House.

Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh also sought clarity, given Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd’s assertion on Wednesday that water charges would be imposed when meters were installed in every household in the State.

Had it anything to do with item 64, namely the Water Services (Amendment) Bill, on the legislative programme? “No,” said Gilmore, adding that the Bill established a system for inspecting and monitoring the performance of septic tanks and other on-site wastewater treatment systems.

Now we know!