Post-wedding love lingers in the air but Higgins still rebuffs Enda's advances

DÁIL SKETCH:CUPID LED to a brief show of unity and harmony in the Dáil yesterday.

Minister of State Lucinda Creighton was congratulated by all shades of political opinion on her marriage to Senator Paul Bradford.

The low-key wedding took place in Dublin last Friday, and the word in Leinster House is that a prominent British couple, one with Royal connections, unsuccessfully tried to upstage it with a much bigger event in London. Independent Shane Ross was first to congratulate the Minister of State, who sat on the Government benches.

But he was adamant she should fully support the proposal to make her new spouse and his colleagues in the Upper House redundant in line with Fine Gael policy.

“I hope she will not have any divided loyalties when she is obliged to vote for the abolition by referendum of the House of which her husband is a member,” said Ross.

Creighton smiled broadly.

Fellow Mayo native Taoiseach Enda Kenny wished Creighton and Bradford, who is from Cork, well for the future.

“There is no point of contention about that,” he said.

Fianna Fáil leader and Corkman Micheál Martin remarked that Creighton had “displayed discerning acumen and taste in terms of moving south to choose a valued partner”.

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, who added her good wishes, had earlier expressed concern about the abolition of the institution which is about to provide Bradford and 59 others with gainful employment for what could be its last term.

It may have crossed her mind that three of those availing of the gainful employment are members of her own party.

While conceding that “nobody with an ounce of wit” could defend the current Seanad structure, she appealed for discussion and debate before the referendum to abolish it was put to the people.

She understood, she said, that the Taoiseach, with such a large Dáil majority, might see it as useful to abolish the second chamber.

Kenny, flanked by several representatives of his large majority, observed that her party might not want the Seanad to fade away because of its increased presence there.

McDonald referred to Fine Gael’s strong Upper House representation, adding “we are not alone in that regard”.

The Cupid-inspired unity and harmony rapidly disappeared when the Taoiseach suggested to Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins that he might attend today’s 1916 commemoration ceremonies in Arbour Hill with his Oireachtas colleagues.

“On principle, I do not stand shoulder to shoulder with people who have sold out the working class people of this country,” snapped Higgins.

He added that “it would be an insult to James Connolly to stand beside the Taoiseach and his colleagues, which is why I am not attending”.

McDonald, meanwhile, invoked the names of the favourite couple cited by TDs in turbulent times when she argued for a gender balance in the proposed constitutional convention.

She said “Síle Citizen should get equal billing with Seán”.

Clearly, they are considered to be more Irish than that other couple sometimes referred to as representing the average citizen, “Joe and Josephine Soap” who are rarely referred to these days.