Today is Leo Varadkar’s first anniversary as Taoiseach, a year to the day since he was elected to be the country’s leader by the Dáil (thanks to Fianna Fáil’s abstention), travelled to Áras an Uachtaráin for the ceremonials with Michael D, and then returned to Leinster House to put together his administration.
He’ll mark it by travelling to Madrid (on the Government jet, though that is hardly the lap of luxury) and meeting Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez. They will discuss Brexit of course – the great political and diplomatic challenge facing the young Taoiseach and his government.
Sanchez, himself hardly a wet week in office, will be briefed about Varadkar’s leadership of social change in Ireland, the strong economic growth here and the tricky politics of Varadkar’s parliamentary situation. The men will size each other up as allies on the European Council.
You’d imagine this is what Varadkar anticipated the job would be like.
The subject of the anniversary came up in the Dáil yesterday of course, because Varadkar won’t be there today. Opposition leaders took the opportunity to warmly congratulate him on his achievements in his first 12 months, and wish him many years of happiness in the Taoiseach’s office.
Well, not quite. Miriam Lord paints the picture.
We have become used to Varadkar as Taoiseach now, so it's easy forget how novel he was. Not just his sexuality or ethnic background (to which, really, very few people paid all that much attention), but his youth and relative inexperience. He relishes this idea – that he is part of a new wave of world leaders: liberal, internationalist, innovative, reforming, unafraid to tackle old orthodoxies. Last night, at the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party, he was talking about the changing of the tectonic plates in the North.
Perhaps they are. Though tectonic plates, by their nature, tend to move very slowly indeed.
A lot done, etc
One of the taunts thrown at Varadkar is the old Fianna Fáil line: “A lot done. More to do.”
And of course, if it’s Leo’s first anniversary, it’s also the first anniversary in office for the new cabinet - or at least those he appointed to new jobs: Eoghan Murphy, Paschal Donohoe, Regina Doherty, Heather Humphreys, Michael Ring and the rest of the galacticos in the cabinet.
Opposition fire is directed heavily at Murphy, the Minister for Housing, with a Sinn Féin motion of No Confidence expected in the next week. Fianna Fáil will have no option but to abstain, or the confidence and supply deal is over. Given the criticism they have levelled at Murphy on the housing issue, having to support him would irritate Fianna Fáil greatly. Varadkar made some pointed references to this last night too.
But the Taoiseach and his ministers can hardly dispute that there is more to do. A taste of the outstanding tasks, and pressing public policy problems, that confront them can be found in today’s newspaper.
The south east faces being left without a child psychiatrist, as three Wexford based consultants resign in protest at poor conditions, over half a million people are waiting for outpatient appointments and of course there's the cervical cancer story, which has broken through with the public in a way many such controversies do not.
This morning, in our lead story, Sarah Bardon reports that the HSE insists there are times when non-disclosure of medical mistakes is appropriate. They'll have to defend this at the Public Accounts Committee this morning. Varadkar and Simon Harris have been sharply critical of the health service failings; but the HSE works for them, remember.
There’s a bit of early summer election giddiness around Fine Gael at the moment. If and when an election does come, bales of this stuff will be thrown at them. More to do is right.
Mind you, for all the scorn with which the Bertie Ahern slogan from 2002 is thrown at Varadkar these days, we should possibly remember: it worked. Bertie won that election easily, coming within a whisker of an overall majority.
