Good morning,
The gates of Leinster House see protests most weeks, but expect a particular political focus on one being held from today.
Teenage disability rights campaigner Cara Darmody is to begin a 50-hour picket on Kildare Street. And expect plenty of pressure to follow.
Darmody’s two younger brothers are autistic, and along with her family, she has been petitioning government and opposition parties over a backlog in assessments of need - a legal process designed to identify a child’s health needs.
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Under legislation introduced in 2005, children have a legal right to an assessment of need within six months. Only a tiny percentage have this deadline met - and as political editor Pat Leahy writes this morning, the number of children awaiting assessment for six months or longer will grow from 15,000 now to 25,000 by the end of the year, according to HSE estimates.
The Coalition - both as outgoing government and incoming administration - put a big emphasis on disability, and there is likely to be a public examination of its record and intent lasting several days.
From a political point of view, the backlog is a significant vulnerability. It sits alongside ongoing or brewing controversies involving orthopedics and hip dysplasia, where the individuals impacted are vulnerable and their stories emotionally raw.
Coalition leaders have not been slow to engage with Cara Darmody and her family - most recently Minister for Children Norma Foley. Nor have they been shy about admitting that the current situation is not acceptable.
However, a listening ear doesn’t mitigate the issue of political responsibility, which is something the Opposition will seek to force home in a combined motion to be taken this evening - another road test of the unity of the Opposition parties as they seek to impose maximum pressure on the Government.
A new chapter for EU-UK relations?
Late night negotiations, a press conference in a gilded setting, followed by lunch on a retired warship. It could only be another round of post-Brexit negotiations, as the UK and EU struck a “reset” deal on their post-Brexit trading relationship.
As with almost all matters Brexit, the details are quite involved, and have already been spat out by some of the pillars of Brexiteer politics. They include Nigel Farage, the UK’s fishing fleet and Boris Johnson, who pronounced that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was, er, nothing more than the “manacled gimp of Brussels”.
The response in Ireland has been warmer. Tánaiste Simon Harris’s trade forum gave it a “strong welcome”, according to an account of proceedings on Monday, with participants highlighting positive impacts in relation to energy and an agreement on Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) trade.
The question for Downing Street is whether its claimed economic benefits will be tangible to voters - or whether the potency of the charge that it has capitulated to Brussels will further bolster Farage’s buoyant Reform party.
Freya McClements on the NI reaction.
Mark Paul on smiles and bonhomie as the deal was announced.
Eoin Burke-Kennedy on what is in the reset deal.
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Playbook
The weekly Cabinet meeting will be held around 9am. Here’s what we know is on the agenda.
Meanwhile, the weekly round of press conferences from the Opposition will get underway on the Leinster House plinth from mid-morning.
As mentioned above, the leaders of the Opposition parties will meet with Cara Darmody outside Leinster House at 11.30am.
The political/courts crossover continues with Gerry Adams’ High Court action alleging defamation against the BBC rolling into another day.
Action in the Dáil gets underway from 2pm, with Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats and the Independent and Parties technical group putting questions to Micheál Martin. Then it’s the Order of Business and Questions on Policy or Legislation.
Shortly after 3pm, the legislation reducing the voting age to 16 for all elections will be introduced by Aidan Farrelly of the Social Democrats, before Taoiseach’s questions.
Just before 4pm, Government Business will be given over to statements on Assessment of Need, before a motion on the topic from the combined opposition parties, put down in Sinn Féin time.
In the evening, there are oral questions for Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon followed by topical issues after 11pm.
In the Seanad, commencement matters are at 2.30om, with statements on driving test waiting times at 4.45pm, before the upper house debates legislation on catfishing brought forward by Fianna Fáil. The full Seanad schedule is here.
In the Committee rooms, the last procedural bits and bobs are still being tied down with elections of vice chairs to many committees, introductory remarks and statements from incoming chairs, as well as private meetings as they plan their work schedule.
The infrastructure committee is looking at the steps involved in commissioning large-scale capital projects at 3.30pm
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