What do the following five people have in common?
Kevin Bakhurst, director general, RTÉ. Gabriel Makhlouf, governor of the Central Bank. Sebastian Barnes, chair of the Fiscal Advisory Council. Drew Harris, Garda Commissioner. Jeremy Godfrey, executive chairperson of Coimisiún na Meán (Media Commission).
Yes, they are all men. Yes, they have big State jobs.
Anything else?
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Senator Sharon Keogan knows the answer and it’s shocking. The truth will shake the very foundation of your wokery and catapult you into the reality of what shadowy forces are doing to Irish-born Irish people right under their freckly noses.
All of these men are British. According to the Senator, that is. The Garda Commissioner is an Irishman, born in Belfast, but she appears unaware of this.
And if things couldn’t get any more sinister, one of these foreigners, Gabriel Makhlouf, is actually “British-Egyptian”.
Senator Keogan tweeted this risible revelation late on Tuesday night in the form of a slick graphic headed “Do they not trust us?” Whoever “they” are. It features pictures of the aforementioned executives, their nationalities and their jobs which are “top positions of governance in Ireland”.
There follows a contemptible tagline: “No Irish need apply.”
The Meath-based Senator, who is a member of the Seanad’s Independent Group, commented above this deeply unpleasant image: “5 key appointments governing us all made in the last 5 years. No jobs for the Irish here! #Governance #Ireland”
Chilling. Definitely an example of The Great Nutcasement.
She wasn’t in the chamber for the Order of Business the following morning when the other five members of the group dissociated themselves from her odious message.
“I wish on my own behalf and on behalf of Senator McDowell, Senator Victor Boyhan, Senator Gerard Craughwell and Senator David Norris, to publicly repudiate the tone, the content and the message contained in that posting,” declared Senator Tom Clonan, a furious-looking Michael McDowell beside him.
He said it would “raise feelings of alienation” among many people who are welcome here, from bus drivers and shopkeepers up to the highest office holders in the land” and added that if a parliamentarian from another jurisdiction posted something similar about an Irish person we would be up in arms.
“The phrase ‘no Irish need apply’ is a phrase that is held in infamy and, similarly, the phrase ‘no non-Irish need apply’ is equally reprehensible.”
Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley echoed their condemnation.
“I’m absolutely really annoyed by what Senator Keogan posted. It’s disgusting. I know three of the individuals and they are three of the finest people that you could find anywhere. And I’d ask Senator Keogan to reflect on this: I saw her in the Other House last week running to get a ringside seat to be part of the Joe Biden situation. If she feels so strongly about migration and immigration she shouldn’t have been in there.
“We were celebrating the fact that an Irishman had made it to the highest office in the United States. And yet, we see this kind of vile language being used against some of our nearest neighbours.”
He said that “some clever individuals” are waging a malign campaign on social media to create the impression that all inward migration is bad and people who come here “have a nefarious purpose” and want to “do damage to this country”.
Senator Dooley urged parliamentarians to challenge the misinformation and “take it head-on and upfront” instead of ignoring it in the hope it will go away.
“Well, it’s not going away, because there’s a sinister element and it’s represented in this House.
“When I talk about this House – the Oireachtas – there are individuals who are preying on the concerns of people who feel vulnerable in their own community... and that situation, that context is being used by clever agitators and they have mouthpieces in this House.”
Acting leader of the Seanad Fiona O’Loughlin said she was “appalled” by the tweet, which was still online on Friday evening.
We were unable to contact Sharon Keogan by phone on Friday for a response to her colleagues’ comments. When we contacted her Leinster House office a spokesman for the Independent Group said “I don’t imagine that Senator Keogan will make any comment on this, but thank you.”
Car zone
Discussion on the Finance Bill this week veered into benefit-in-kind tax on company cars and whether it is fair to have more favourable arrangements for electric vehicles.
Rural TDs argued that driving an EV is not such a viable option for people who need to drive long distances or who do not live in or near an urban area. Limerick County’s Richard O’Donoghue wondered how many Ministers have electric cars? Does Minister of State James Lawless, who was replying for the Government, drive one?
The Fianna Fáil deputy for Kildare North said he doesn’t have a State car but his personal vehicle is not an EV. “Though I drove a Prius happily for many years. The only reason I got rid of it was that it was destroyed with election posters and cable ties. There were scrapes and scratches on the back of it.”
“So you don’t have one,” said Richard, triumphantly.
“I sold it because it was driven into the ground,” explained James, who would be happy to drive an EV again.
“I’m in the market for a new car.”
Danny Healy-Rae was in like a shot.
“I’ll sell ‘ou one. It’s 2006. It has only 780,000 kilometres on it.”
Danny was not exactly telling the truth, though.
He loves that old car. It belonged to his father, Jackie, and he wouldn’t sell it for the world. The larger-than-life TD for the Kingdom died in 2014.
“She’s an ‘06 Mercedes, 320 diesel, six-cylinder and she’s a powerful car,” he said proudly. “My father bought it new and I did got it from him in 2011. We did a transaction and he got a smaller car, a Skoda.
“It takes me up to the Dáil every week. I have huge sentimental value on it. The fact that it was my father’s car, it is an honour for me to have it. Anything he had, I really, d’you know, mind it as good as I can.”
Danny has other vehicles, but the dark blue Merc is the one he uses most. “It gives very little trouble and she has the same engine and the same transmission and the same axles. I did change the shocks one time and the brake pads too. The clock is up to 781,000 now.”
Jackie’s original hands-free phone kit is still in use. “The phone I have is compatible with it,” says Danny, who kept Jackie’s old Nokia and now uses it as a second phone for family and friends who can’t contact him on his own, constantly engaged Nokia.
It’s the most famous and familiar mobile phone in Leinster House, with its familiar ringtone providing constant interruption during Dáil sessions, much to the frustration of fellow TDs and the Chair.
Musical chair
Speaking of which, Danny outdid himself in the Dáil on Wednesday when it wasn’t just his phone providing the musical entertainment.
Verona Murphy was in the Chair for a very lively debate on the Soc Dems’ Vacant Homes Tax motion. The Independent TD for Wexford takes no nonsense from deputies when standing in for the Ceann Comhairle.
Danny became very exercised over the issue of taxing people’s property and said a high tax on a vacant property was “a CPO in disguise”. As he became more agitated, shouting about sneaking in compulsory purchase orders, land grabs and parties like the Social Democrats trying “to tax the people out of their homes”, Verona stood up and ordered him to resume his seat.
But the red mist was down and Danny’s dander was up.
As Verona tried her utmost to silence him, the Kerry TD decided words were not enough. So he burst into song, singing directly to the Chair as she hollered down at him while walloping lumps out of the bell.
“I’m giving you one warning! Resume your seat out of respect for this House.”
Danny tilted his chin, stood up straight, chest out, fists up close by his side and opened his mouth.
“Oh, the rent and taxes were too high, and then I could not them redeem, and that’s the cruel reason why I left old Skibbereen,” he warbled defiantly at the simultaneously roaring Verona.
“You have the cheek to come in here and your phone rings and you then carry on like this!”
The few TDs present were highly entertained.
Deputy Murphy beseeched them not to encourage him.
“That is what these people want to do. Tax them out of their homes and tax them out of their farms,” quivered Danny, after his emotional rendition.
Not much earlier, before she ascended the chair, Verona was somewhat emotional herself as she excoriated the Government as “the dead hand” at the centre of the housing crisis, undermining housing supply with its planning policy and its application and “held hostage by their senior civil servants and the Planning Regulator”.
Developers, who can deliver the houses, are treated as “the lepers of the housing industry” and do not get a proper hearing from political decision makers.
She had a message for Darragh O’Brien.
“In order to solve the greatest shite-show that this country has ever seen, the Minister needs to grow a pair.”
Golf date
The Ceann Comhairle has been holding a series of fundraisers in Leinster House for the aid agency Trócaire. The latest was on Tuesday night in the Members’ Restaurant and the occasion had a sporting theme.
This time, Seán Ó Fearghaíl managed to bag Pádraig Harrington as his guest of honour. The golf-loving guests at the dinner hung on his every word as RTÉ’s globetrotting golf correspondent Greg Allen interviewed the three-times Major winner about his sporting life – from the Tour, his training regime and big moments in his illustrious career.
Golfers never tire of talking about golf. So Pádraig went down a treat.
There was a lively question-and-answer session. Dublin footballer Jonny Cooper was among the audience hoping to get some tips from the pro.
Also there were Minister for Finance Michael McGrath and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe, neither of whom are known as golfers. Perhaps they were trying to pick up a few clubhouse-friendly phrases for those times they have to rub shoulders with golf-mad super-rich financiers.
