QUIDNUNC: A new Government brings many changes and the first will come next week - the announcement of the cabinet, when the 29th Dáil meets on Thursday, and the junior ministers later. After that, there are the other jobs to dispense - chairmanships of Oireachtas committees, advisers, and appointments to State boards as they arise. There are also the Seanad nominations from the political parties, plus 11 nominees from the Taoiseach himself.
But since there is no change of power or leader, Bertie Ahern is expected to retain most of his team. At cabinet level, the loss of Mary O'Rourke and the appointment of a Ceann Comhairle from among his experienced ministers will create two vacancies. Already, the names on those places are Mary Hanafin and Michael McDowell.
It is also felt that room has to be found for Seamus Brennan, so someone else will have to go, possibly to become deputy leader of Fianna Fáil. Suggestions for Ceann Comhairle include Michael Smith and Síle de Valera. The automatic re-election of either would secure shaky FF seats, in Tipperary North and Clare respectively. A new chief whip has to be found and, since it is thought advantageous to be Dublin-based for this job, Brian Lenihan has been suggested, although, as a lawyer, he could become Attorney-General. Eoin Ryan is another suggestion for the whip's job.
These changes are about the minimum Ahern could make, but his remarks this week that a new government has a new mandate (and that this means a clean sheet) led to speculation that the new cabinet will be different from the last. It is not in the Taoiseach's nature to sack people and make enemies, so he seems to be preparing his current ministers for some surprises. His words must be music to the ears of junior ministers such as Willie O'Dea and Martin Cullen. It is unlikely, though, that there will be a night of the long knives à la Albert Reynolds. Ahern's warning is probably merely a preparation for the modest restructuring he intends announcing on Thursday, as opposed to the minimum that had been expected.
But these are nice problems compared with what Fine Gael has to face. FG's new leader will be proposed as taoiseach on Thursday. Then he starts rebuilding the party. It is intended that the Dáil will not sit in the week beginning June 10th, to allow new ministers settle into their departments, but it will be back from June 18th and should meet for four weeks, until the Seanad elections.
Technicals apply group force
When the outgoing Government was formed, in June 1997, the rows among the "technicals" (the 14 Independent, Democratic Left, Green and Sinn Féin deputies) over who should get what and who should attend the whips' meetings, where great decisions are taken, delayed some Dáil procedures. With the chief whip, Seamus Brennan, reduced to drawing names from a hat to fill their committee places, some strange appointments resulted.
This time, to maximise their participation in Dáil Éireann, there have already been efforts to avoid the confusion and find agreement among the 25 deputies not belonging to a group of seven or more. The Greens (six TDs) and Sinn Féin (five) want standing orders revised to allow them to be recognised as groups. This would make them eligible for benefits including extra speaking time in the chamber, printing facilities, committee places and trips.
Meanwhile, 10 of the 14 Independents met in Leinster House on Tuesday to discuss joining together for the same purpose. Standing orders dictate that a group is made up of seven deputies or more, but even if the Greens got a new recruit they would not qualify. For parties of under seven to become a group, they must have a majority of the deputies who are unaligned (those with less than seven TDs). With 25 unaligned TDs in total (six Greens, five Shinners and 14 others), that means a group made up of TDs from more than one party must be 13 deputies strong.
The meeting of 10 Independents was organised by Seamus Healy and chaired by Tony Gregory, the longest-serving among them. Of those missing, Liam Twomey and Mildred Fox support the initiative, but Jackie Healy-Rae and Niall Blaney are outside at present. Involvement in such a group, says Gregory, does not compromise anyone, has no voting rules and is merely to access procedures.
Both Gregory and the Green whip, John Gormley, who says the status quo is unworkable, want standing orders overturned and are seeking discussions with Brennan. While nobody is holding out much prospect of that, all sorts of alliances are possible to reach the magic figure of 13 members.
The Greens, the Shinners and two lefties is one combination mentioned, but who would lead and who would whip could be an insurmountable obstacle.
The new government's chief whip will undoubtedly have an easier life than Brennan as pro-government TDs will no longer need chaperoning to prevent a government collapse. His work will be cut out, though, dealing with the demands of the 25 so-called non-aligned, who are vociferous, disparate and mainly new members.
Seanad under starters' orders
Two new members of Seanad Éireann signed the roll in Leinster House last week. They were the outgoing Minister for Public Enterprise, Mary O'Rourke, and FF general secretary Martin Mackin. Their term of office ends on the eve of polling for the next Seanad, July 15th. So will their elevation be a seven-week wonder? Will they ever get to attend a sitting? The pair were appointed by Bertie Ahern immediately after the general election to the two vacant places on the list of 11 Taoiseach's nominees caused by the retirement of Tom Fitzgerald and the election to the Dáil of Dermot Fitzpatrick. Vacancies outside the 11 nominees have to be contested.
O'Rourke is expected not only to be reappointed in the next Taoiseach's list but to be Cathaoirleach in place of the retiring Brian Mullooly. Mackin's fate is more difficult to predict. Will he even make a maiden speech? There is no doubt that the Seanad is a reward for the blinder he and his team played in the election. But is he to be a senator or party general secretary? Some say the Taoiseach wants to give him free car parking and access for life to Leinster House - including the bars and restaurants - and this would be the way to do it.
There is a precedent. Mackin's campaign partner, P.J. Mara, was appointed by his boss, outgoing taoiseach Charlie Haughey, on June 29th 1981. He lasted six weeks, until eve of polling in August. Haughey, however, reappointed him when he returned to power the following year; this time, Mara had six months in the upper house. Mackin, of course, may have his eye elsewhere. In a recent interview, he said he much admired Seamus Kirk, TD for Louth. Mackin is from Dundalk.
Behind the blarney
'The Irish PR machine is one of the most effective in the world, in that the images it promulgates go far beyond the purely geographical, to the emotional and spiritual." Thus says one Martin Walton in the Spectator. The world now imagines that "the countryside looks like the Cork and Kerry mountains rather than the bland pastoral scarred by ill-suited prefab bungalows erected without any regard for the scant local planning regulations."
Crime, unemployment, the black economy and ugly market towns abound, Walton writes. The occasional traditional main street "rapidly degenerates into estates of starter homes designed by starter architects. The most common sight here is of shell-suited and tube-topped mothers pushing fatherless prams - a long way from the Innisfáil which Yeats once hoped to revive."
History revels in the struggle of romantic individuals, he writes, who live to fight again "with the help of the little people, and a pint or two, and a spot of storytelling at the fireside". Even the fat cats, whom he names, "are viewed as roguish chancers rather than what they really are: über-capitalist manipulators of corrupt government, cronyism and blind EC largesse." So there.
Doctor goes for the double
One of the best-known people in Irish agriculture, Dr Liam Downey, retired last month after eight years at the top of Teagasc, the Agriculture and Food Development Authority. The west Cork man has the distinction of having been director-general of four national organisations - An Foras Forbartha (1979-82); ACOT (1983-88), ERAD, the bovine TB eradication board (1988-94), and then Teagasc.
A UCC graduate in biochemistry, Downey has an international reputation as a scientist and communicator and is one of the few Irish scientists to have been awarded a doctorate of science by the National University of Ireland, an honour bestowed for his international contribution to research.
At a recent retirement lunch, Downey revealed that he is to go back to studying again, this time archaeology. He is of the opinion that more than three-quarters of all archaeological information is agriculture-based and he hopes to add yet another doctorate to his name.