Three things are certain in this world: death, taxes and Danny Healy-Rae’s Nokia going off during Leaders’ Questions.
In yet another thrilling moment from DHR on Wednesday, the familiar 13-note ringtone announced its tinny presence while he was on his feet asking a question about the rising cost of fuel. Danny continued talking as he reached into his jacket pocket and turned off the device. His brother Michael, seated next to him, didn’t flinch either when the phone rang.
Well used to it by now. The Independent TD for Kerry joined the growing clamour from deputies demanding interim support measures for people hit by the cost-of-living crisis, echoing the prevailing view that they can’t wait until the October budget for the Government to act.
He said people living in rural areas, where access to private transport is vital, cannot afford to fill their tanks. “Whether it’s the man going to work in his car or the mother taking children to school or whether it’s the man filling up his lorry”, they are “at their wits’ end trying to stay on the road.”
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Danny urged Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath to do something. “I am begging you,” he pleaded. “These are not normal times.”
Michael, standing in for the Taoiseach, agreed wholeheartedly with him. Not about cutting the excise on fuel but with the statement that we are not living in normal times. He also agreed with DHR’s “very valid point that rising fuel prices impact across the board”.
Tell us something we don’t know.
One almost feels sorry for TDs when they have to face the accountant from Cork at Leaders’ Questions. It must be like trying to tackle a large beige blancmange with a balloon.
“Give them vouchers. Do something for those people,” urged Healy-Rae in exasperation.
But he didn’t have to tell the Fianna Fáil man that times are tough out there for contractors, farmers, people delivering public works and private motorists.
“We acknowledge those pressures and we will very much take that into account,” he murmured, at pains to stress that the Government is not deaf to public concerns about rising prices and the pressure to make ends meet.
But while a comprehensive package of supports running into billions of euro has already been put in place, he believes the most sensible course of action now is to hold off until October when a big-bang budget is unveiled which will, hopefully, help people through the winter months.
If random measures are introduced in dribs and drabs it will reduce the “headroom” available to make decent allocations in the budget.
Peter Fitzpatrick of the regional Independents group was at one with Danny Healy-Rae. Too many are in trouble now, he said. The TD for Louth described how people — working men and women — are coming to his clinics in dire straits and wondering how they are going to feed and clothe their families. They tell him they would be better of on social welfare. Pensioners are afraid to turn on the heat. Like other Opposition speakers, he had plenty of examples to relate.
Unsurprisingly, measured Michael wasn’t going to disagree. You don’t have to tell him about how bad things are out there.
“You have articulated the real-world experience of many people at this point in time,” he empathised pointlessly, before going on to talk about existing interventions and his “budget envelope”.
Peter was adamant. “The people of Ireland want a bit of help.”
If anyone in his family was in trouble and he had the money available he would give them a dig-out in their hour of need. No point in waiting for some rainy day fund to come along.
“So I’m saying your family, which is the country, is asking this Government for help,” he said to the Minister, who has seven children, the equivalent of a small country in household terms.
But Michael, in his militantly bland way, stuck to his guns. There will be no big changes and no emergency budget before the autumn. People who find themselves in need of help should approach their community welfare officer and seek an additional needs payment.
Obviously, Mary Lou McDonald was withering in her assessment of the Government’s determination to hang on until the last quarter of the year before making a move.
Its message to ordinary people “on the brink” is a stark “strap yourself in because you’re on your own”.
But if “those at the top” needed a bailout she suspected that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael “would be in like a flash” to help.
“You have to respond now!”
But it isn’t all bad, countered Michael. Unemployment levels are low while growth and inward investment continues to do well, so “it’s not all doom and gloom”. Had he given in to Sinn Féin’s constant demands for increased spending the vital pre-winter war chest would be badly depleted now. Check the party’s website for those press releases “not yet deleted”, he told the Dáil, and see how their many promises add up to billions.
The Sinn Féin leader was completely scandalised by the Minister’s brazen declaration that everything is “wonderfully rosy” in the economic garden when parents are already worried about paying back-to-school bills. In fact, she was highly affronted, which is nothing new. Oh, but she found it “very galling” to have to listen to his “bragging” in the chamber.
Braggadocious is a word nobody will ever associate with the militantly bland Michael McGrath.
Mary Lou ended on a dramatic note. “While families suffer, you sit on your hands, Nero fiddles and Rome burns.”
You could see she had riled him up.
“There is nobody bragging, deputy, and there is no need to drag down the tone of the political debate on what is a really important issue that affects ordinary people and ordinary businesses all over the country,” he fumed monotonously, angry as hell. Well, clearly mildly tepid under the collar.
There will be significant interventions in the autumn when people will need them most, and the “good news” is that Ireland is in a relatively strong position going into that period, he reiterated.
However, while Mary Lou McDonald mentioned the budget in October on six occasions, stressing that people can’t wait that long for assistance, Michael McGrath only referred to an autumn package.
By teatime, rumours began circulating in Leinster House about an early roll-out.
Apparently, in response to overwhelming demands from the Opposition and concerted public pressure on their own deputies, the Government is making serious moves to bring the big-bang budget forward by almost a month.
Could this be true? A September budget to kick-start the new Dáil term?
That should bring everyone back with a pep in their step and put a stop to Nero’s gallop.
