They are not quite the odd couple, but Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin have become the perfect pairing of this Coalition.
One is a former leader of his party, who talks of “milluns and billuns”. The other is a potential future leader who prefers to address the “quantum” in his “envelope”.
Each is the strongest asset in their respective party's armour, and, combined, they are the force behind the Fine Gael and Labour claims of stability and trust.
The relationship between the two men has been the anchor for the Coalition tasked with exiting a bailout programme and fixing a broken economy, without the fallback of the troika.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Noonan admits the two men often became the buffer for the Coalition parties, regularly relied upon by their leaders to dispel disputes.
“Our colleagues began to turn to us very quickly as the people who could solve difficulties. We got into a situation of bilateral meetings with advisers every week to iron out difficulties between the two parties and that continued.
"When the decision was taken to divide the Department of Finance into the Department of Finance and Public Expenditure, he is upstairs and I am downstairs. We meet every week several times. What was a very strong business relationship has developed into a personal friendship and we got on very well."
The “bromance” began when the duo were among those tasked with negotiating the programme for government. Each party had their own ideas of what the next five years would entail.
“We understood each other,” Howlin explains. “It was really important we continued that relationship. We had lots of rows. We have huge respect for each other, I think – I certainly have huge respect for him. We never left an issue unresolved. Sometimes things that could have been quite tetchy, had they gone to Cabinet, we resolved bilaterally – by him and myself.”
Over the next five years the pair were tasked with not only dealing with their respective parties, but rescuing a battered economy.
Several spats
Both admit that their relationship has not been entirely plain sailing – and that, particularly around budget time, there have been several spats.
The rows were driven by unrealistic demands and a lack of money, Noonan says. “The country was bankrupt. For the first three years we did a lot of things we didn’t want to do, but we had no choice. There was no money and we couldn’t borrow it.
“The reason the troika were in was because we couldn’t borrow money on the markets. Nobody else would lend to us, only our colleagues in Europe and the IMF, and of course the money they gave us came with conditions because they didn’t know whether we could pay it back or not. It was very difficult.”
Howlin describes the situation in 2011 as “dire”.
The two men who come from different perspectives and persuasions were relied upon to fix it.
“I am sure we have annoyed each other on occasions,” he admits. “That is a fact. Occasionally, there is miscommunication. Occasionally, I understood we had an agreement that subsequently didn’t turn out to be the case. But by and large, [in] the vast bulk of areas, we have come together to resolve issues and come to amicable solutions that were right for the country.”
Harsh reductions
Some believed it was a slight stroke of genius from Fine Gael to appoint a “Minister for Cuts” in 2011, splitting the finance role into two briefs: one Minister dealing with spending, the other dealing with income.
Howlin was given the unenviable task of announcing harsh reductions in child benefit, the unpopular scrapping of the bereavement grant and the telephone allowance, while Noonan was able to announce reduced VAT rates for the tourism sector and increased mortgage relief.
One Fine Gael TD said: “It was pure genius on Michael’s part. Here is a Labour Minister announcing the cuts in spending, the demon on the tabloid front pages and the figure of anger, while Michael got off lightly with the tax measures.”
That same cynic believes Noonan will want to reclaim the expenditure role, now the economy is recovering and there is money to give.
Noonan insists he has no such desire. He insists he will be advising the Taoiseach to keep the two departments – a position Brendan Howlin and Labour, should they retain a role in government, will be relieved to learn of.
The veteran would not go as far as to recommend who to appoint, he says, but he will be available for the job as minister for finance again.
Both men have credited part of the country’s economic recovery to their good working and personal relationship.
Insiders believe their pairing is the most stable part of the Fine Gael-Labour Coalition. Without their partnership, Fine Gael and Labour may not have lasted for the last five years – with the pair sometimes asked to weigh in on disputes going beyond their own briefs.
The challenge now for the two parties is to reunite in coalition – though opinion polls paint that as an uphill battle they are close to losing.
Noonan insists there is a long way to go, and the challenge for Fine Gael and Labour is to remind people of Fianna Fáil’s past in government and warn against a future with Sinn Féin.
"Fianna Fáil is still tainted by the period that caused the crash, and I think that they're not ready for government yet. I suppose some of the young guys that weren't involved in those days will develop into good politicians as time goes by, but at present they don't have the experience.
“Those that have the experience – whether it is the people in the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, or the new candidates, some of whom are former ministers – they didn’t do well and you don’t go back.”
Howlin adds: “It would be a tragedy if the party that caused the crash, that once upon a time had the good grace to apologise for it, but who now laud the government responsible, were returned to power. Micheál Martin left that government when the going got tough, leaving [Brian] Lenihan in the lurch. How can he and the party that caused the crash, be put in charge of the recovery?”
Both Ministers reserve their strongest words for Sinn Féin, Noonan questioning who actually runs Gerry Adams’s party.
“There are too many events. Whether it is the suspicion that the leadership follows instruction from their men in west Belfast, or whether [it is] the influence of the Slab Murphys of this world along the Border, or whether [it is] people involved in illegalities like cigarette smuggling and diesel laundering; whether they’re out of Sinn Féin, once removed or whether they have some role, it is very hard to know at the moment. I certainly don’t think they should be let near government.”
Denied existence
Howlin is somewhat more reserved in his criticisms. “Sinn Féin have opposed every measure to bring about the recovery – they supported the bank guarantee that socialised our debt, said we’d need a second bailout, endorsed and sought endorsement from those in Greece who halted that country’s growth, and denied the existence of an Irish recovery they now acknowledge.
“If Sinn Féin had followed through on the policy of telling the troika to take their money back, we wouldn’t have been able to pay pensions to OAPs, or salaries to the Garda, teachers and nurses at all.
"Now they propose pay cuts that are illegal, marginal tax rates that are punitive and they are simply anti-jobs. They attack RTÉ, Siptu or anybody who disagrees with them. They are the party of populist authoritarianism."
Attacks like these will no doubt become increasingly familiar over the coming week as the election campaign enters its final week.
And as they seek to promote stability and trust, expect these two men to play a more prominent role in their parties’ plans.
Once again, they will be relied upon by their parties to save them from impending disasters.
