Madam, – Brian, Éamon, Mary and Micheál all want to lead Fianna Fáil. All at the Cabinet table and all subject to collective responsibility.
Presumably they all agree with Brian Cowen on their sorrow at the state of the nation and take responsibility for their actions but refuse to apologise for the outcome of their actions.
So no change there then. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Representing the West: Éamon Ó Cuív, representing the South: Micheál Martin, representing the East: Mary Hanafin and representing Dublin, Brian Lenihan.
Between the jigs and the reels I feel an election coming on. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In her brilliantly written piece (January 24th) Miriam Lord spells it out clearly, even for those in Fianna Fail who appear to have lost the will to fight for survival.
She asks: “Who would Labour and Fine Gael not want to face in a leadership debate? Micheál or Brian? We suspect they are praying for the nice Micheál, long cosseted away from the rough and tumble in the Department of Foreign Affairs”.
Anyone who watched Brian Lenihan on the Week in Politics could see why Fine Gael and Labour want Mr Martin to win. Mr Lenihan has huge natural authority as well as economic literacy. By contrast, Mr Martin has no economic expertise, a major weakness that will be instantly exposed.
The next five years will be all about the economy, the very area in which Mr Martin lacks expertise, never mind experience. How can he cope with the complex financial and economic issues that will surely be the daily diet of the next Dáil? Fianna Fáil is extremely fortunate to have a man of Brian Lenihan’s stature ready and willing to lead that party in these uncertain times. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – With reference to the current contest for the leadership of Fianna Fáil, I would like to put into the public domain the attitude of a number of the candidates to the closure of the Combat Poverty Agency in 2008, after 23 years working for those living in poverty and socially excluded in Ireland and within the EU. As director in the lead-up to its closure, I spoke to a number of ministers and policy-makers to gain their support for a possible new future direction and policy advice role for the agency, as approved by its board and unanimously endorsed by the Joint Oireachtas Committee for Social and Family Affairs.
Brian Lenihan TD told me that he did not agree with the existence of State agencies and that the “real Combat Poverty Agency is the Department of Social and Family Affairs”. When a delegation of community organisations from disadvantaged areas in the West visited a clinic of Éamon Ó Cuív TD to canvas his support for the retention of Combat Poverty, they reported back that his view was that “this Government would not fund any State or voluntary organisation that criticised it”.
Finally, the central role played by Mary Hanafin TD as the minister principally responsible for the closure of Combat Poverty has been well documented. However, it is important to put her opinion of those living in poverty in Ireland into context when she, on national radio provided her definition of poverty as like “living beside Bono in Killiney”.
These three candidates for leadership show how far this generation of Fianna Fáil deputies have shifted from its social democratic traditions, going back to 1932, to a right-wing, neo-liberal party embracing the supremacy of the free market economy to the exclusion of social progress. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – At the age of 55, Pat Spillane has decided to resign his teaching post to make way for a younger teacher. Well done. Any chance Mary Hanafin might take the hint? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – It’s Saturday, January 21st. The time is 2.35pm. A few moments ago Brian Cowen announced his retirement as leader of the Fianna Fáil party.
By the time this letter reaches you I wouldn’t be surprised if D’Unbelievables are running Ireland. One of them as taoiseach, the other as leader of Fianna Fáil.
God help us all. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Time to bring back the X-FFactor? Maybe if Simon and Louis and Cheryl and Danni would sit at their table one more time and let Brian and Eamon and Mary and Micheál strut their stuff, then the Republican Party could have a new leader? – Yours, etc,