Good morning,
After a long and difficult process, the Government has finally moved to sign on the dotted line as it seeks to provide high-speed broadband across Ireland.
But the apparent good news was lost in the political controversy engulfing Fine Gael’s byelection campaign in Wexford. Yesterday, a third interview on migration with the candidate Verona Murphy emerged in which she said children as young as three or four could have been “manipulated” by Isis.
Both the Green Party and Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith called on the Taoiseach to deselect Murphy as a candidate, but he resisted those calls.
The political heat has yet to dissipate as Varadkar travels to Croatia today to meet fellow leaders at the European People’s Party summit in Zagreb and hold a bilateral meeting with the Croatian prime minister.
Ms Murphy had been due to appear on RTÉ’s Late Debate last night, but she pulled out just before 7pm. She was locked in a meeting in Fine Gael headquarters with top advisers. A source said she was in the building in Mount Street for around two hours.
Quite what the media strategy will be in the days and hours to come remains to be seen. One Government source said Tánaiste Simon Coveney was due to canvass with Murphy today in Wexford, but those around Coveney were keeping schtum on such plans when asked last night.
There is little over a week left in the campaign, but the sense in Fine Gael is that the party has not done enough to distance itself from Murphy’s various remarks about Isis and migration.
There is an anger about the comments themselves, both in relation to migration and homelessness, but there is also frustration about the controversy blowing the national broadband plan news out of the headlines and out of the Dáil debate.
Figures in the party have also pointed toward a meeting of the party’s executive council that is expected to take place on Saturday. It’s understood the meeting is due to be a short one, but two members said privately the issue is sure to raise its head there.
It can also be expected that any Minister who appears in national media on other topics will be tackled robustly on this.
On RTÉ Primetime last night, presenter Miriam O’Callaghan asked Minister for Communications Richard Bruton, who of course was on to talk about broadband, “how many more times will she have to make a comment that offends people before she will be de-selected? If another interview surfaces, is that the straw that breaks the camel’s back?”
Mr Bruton said Murphy has apologised for something she got “badly wrong”, and so it would seem here lies the great hope: that those two apologies are enough.
Here is an excellent piece by Miriam Lord on how the Wexford crisis took the shine off the big broadband announcement in Wicklow.
Elsewhere, a lot of the political action today will take place, as mentioned, in Croatia and on the election campaign trail in London.
Denis Staunton’s UK election diary
The UK goes to the polls on December 12th in one of the most highly anticipated elections there in recent times. The outcome will have a far-reaching impact not only on the UK itself, but also on Ireland, as the next British government deals with the Brexit impasse. The Irish Times’s London Editor, Denis Staunton, will write his UK election diary every weekday of the campaign.
Today, in his analysis of last night's head-to-head debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson, Staunton notes that nine times Johnson asked whether Corbyn would campaign for his own, renegotiated Brexit deal in a second referendum, and nine times Corbyn refused to tell him. Read more here.
And finally . . .
The most filibustered Bill in living memory returns to the Seanad today. The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, which covers the process of appointing judges, was last seen in the Seanad in July. At the time, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan said the Bill needed a “substantial amount of work”.
It is being reintroduced with 78 amendments, 36 from the Government. The Bill has been championed by Minister for Transport Shane Ross. Here's a report from Marie O'Halloran as it returns.
Best reads
Waterford got 'f**k all' in sports capital grants: Fiach Kelly has details of a row that has erupted in the Independent Alliance over Shane Ross's allocation of grants.
Trump's Ukraine call was improper, his impeachment hearing is told. Suzanne Lynch reports.
The State's decision to require parents to have a public services card to qualify for new national childcare payments is "illegal" and "highly discriminatory", the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has warned.
Fine Gael is taking a political punt with your money, writes Pat Leahy in his analysis of the broadband plan.
And Harry McGee goes on the campaign trail in Dublin Fingal.
Playbook
Dáil
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan takes parliamentary questions at 10.30am.
Leaders’ Questions are up at noon followed by Questions on Promised Legislation at 12.32pm.
At 14.02pm, Topical Issues will be taken before Private Members’ business at 14.50pm – which will be a Fianna Fáil motion on health.
Government Business begins at 16.50pm with the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Bill 2019 followed by the Finance Bill and then statements on mental health.
At 22.15pm, the Dáil adjourns.
Seanad
There are commencement matters at 10.30am followed by the Order of Business an hour later.
At 12.45pm there will be tributes to former senator and cathaoirleach Rory Kiely.
At 14.00pm there are statements on transport and sport.
The Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017 makes its return at 4pm.
Private Members’ business is taken at 17.30pm, and the Criminal Justice (Rehabilitative Periods) Bill is up before the Seanad adjourns at 19.30pm.
Committees
At 9am the Joint Committee on Health meets to discuss workforce planning in the mental healthcare sector with Mr John Farrelly, CEO of the Mental Health Commission, and Dr Susan Finnerty, Inspector of Mental Health Services.
At 9.30am the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport discusses national cycling policy with representatives from Cyclist.ie and the Dublin Cycling Campaign.
At 11.15am the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs will discuss the 30th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child with representatives from the Ombudsman for Children, Dr Niall Muldoon, and representatives from Unicef.
The Select Committee on Justice and Equality meets at 12.30pm to consider the Criminal Records (Exchange of Information) Bill 2019 with the Minister for Justice.
At 14.00pm the Joint Committee on Climate Action will talk about supporting a ‘Just Transition’ with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Bord Na Móna.
