Story of the Week
Immigration politics is here to stay - even if it’s not always on the front pages. The thorny issue had gone off the boil a little in recent weeks, but it roared back to the centre of the news agenda this week with violent clashes in Coolock followed by a spate of attacks on migrant encampments in Phibsboro and City Quay, while protestors on the left dismantled fences on the Grand Canal.
On Thursday, the former Crown Paints site was set on fire again - and it looks like there may be more protests planned for the weekend, despite a court order being in place. Added to that there were protests in Dundrum, Co Tipperary, and the news that there will be many more potential flashpoints coming down the line as the Government runs the rule over more than 30 new accommodation sites . There is a very real sense of this issue being a tinderbox with no real off-ramps for the Government.
Bust up
As Jack Power reports this morning, the Government is on course for a potential clash with Ursula von der Leyen over its proposed nomination of Michael McGrath as Ireland’s next commissioner. She has sought a gender-balanced option, but Dublin is not for turning on the former finance minister’s nomination. The situation is compounded by those unruly Fianna Fáil MEPs who refused to endorse the German for a second term as Commission president. All of this makes for bad mood-music as Ireland seeks an influential portfolio, with the Fine Gael MEPs putting it about that von der Leyen is not best pleased with their colleagues’ stance.
Meanwhile, Simon Harris has sidestepped the issue but did say on Tuesday that Fianna Fáil discipline is a matter for the Tánaiste - betraying an underlying feeling, perhaps, that a whip should be cracked. Allies of the Taoiseach weren’t rushing to disabuse The Irish Times during the week of the idea that Harris is vexed about the whole thing.
It seems that if McGrath ends up as EU Commissioner for Toilet Seats, there will be no shortage of blame to go around.
Banana skin
There is a political settlement on the cards over the TV licence fee, with a hybrid model agreed at ministerial level that is going to be sent to the coalition leaders for their consideration and ultimate approval by cabinet next week. It will entail mixing the TV licence fee with multi-annual exchequer funding.
However, there’s a studied silence so far on whether the fee will be extended to new households, including those without a TV. This would seem a sensible step, but politically, it could be toxic. Does the Government want to make a meaningful policy reform, or kick it to touch for political reasons? Some distance yet to go in this one, it seems.
Winners and losers
Winners: Paschal Donohoe for holding off the push for direct exchequer funding for RTÉ.
Losers: Charlie McConalogue seems to have picked an unnecessary fight with Fine Gael over the Straw Incorporation Scheme - which pays farmers for chopping straw and incorporating it into the soil. It’s a minnow in the grand scheme of things, accounting for just €12 million in payments last year. But his suspension of the scheme led to a backlash from farming groups and Fine Gael that stretched up to his ministerial colleague Martin Heydon. It’s not going to be the last straw for the Government, but as the parties seek to differentiate themselves from each other among farming voters, rural Fianna Fáil TDs won’t thank their minister for the intervention.
The Big Read
Jack Power will have a big read on the first week back at school for the European Parliament, and the simmering issue of Irish support for Ursula von der Leyen we mentioned above.
Kitty Holland has a feature on Coolock, where anti-immigrant protests turned violent this week, while Conor Gallagher investigates the extremists orchestrating violence against the State and immigrants.
Jennifer Bray is taking over the reins of the Saturday column while Pat Leahy suns himself - she will be arguing that the next election is a contest between the fear of the unknown versus the fear of more of the same.
Hear here
On Wednesday, Washington Correspondent Keith Duggan called in to the Inside Politics podcast from the GOP National Convention in Wisconsin where he tries to describe the party atmosphere. No Friday pod as Hugh is, er, clouding himself in Donegal.
A lot of people in costumes, a lot of music that sort of.... t’s hard to define that strange country rock kind of sound.
— Keith Duggan
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