Martin promises big – keeping kids offline

• Published date: 15 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

The new Taoiseach wasn’t there in person, but his inescapable presence bugged the life out of his Government partners who wanted to get on with their annual conference without having to talk about him all the time

They kept the eye-rolling to a minimum but ministerial resolve was sorely tested.

Why?

Because for 24 hours they were living next door to Harris.

Harris. Harris?

Who the feck is Harris?

Wait a minute. This was supposed to be Fianna Fáil’s occasion. Their turn to make the flashy promises and showcase new policies. Their turn to talk big and talk about themselves. Instead they ended up fielding countless questions about how and if they can deliver on big undertakings pledged by the leader of Fine Gael at his party’s corresponding political jamboree.

But all’s fair in love, war and impending elections, as will become increasingly clear in the months to come.

Taoiseach Simon Harris enjoyed his first ardfheis without any interference from his main Coalition partner. He showed his gratitude by cornering all the best promises for the Blueshirts and leaving the Soldiers of Destiny to explain them at their ardfheis a week later.

Harris promised big across the board during his keynote address in Galway. But it was mainly Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien and Minister for Finance Michael McGrath who wound up dealing with the aftermath. Michael must have been looking forward to the weekend gathering in the new Royal Convention Centre in the heart of medieval Dublin. With elections on the horizon, he was in the happy position of being able to drop some nice, heavy hints about tax cuts.

He had a perfect word to dangle in front of the voting public: “substantial”.

And when he wanted to switch things up he had another tantalising word: “significant”.

Say no more, Michael.

Fianna Fáil’s Minister for Finance will be opening the purse strings in September. Happy days.

Then Simon Harris declares that no worker on or below 50 grand a year should pay the higher rate of income tax. Immediate grounds for a demarcation dispute there.

McGrath’s hopes of playing a pleasant game of Give Us a Clue over the finer details of his giveaway election budget were dashed. Instead, he was plunged into a game of Simon Says, forced to react to the Fine Gael leader’s pronouncements while not saying anything negative about him.

The same went for Darragh O’Brien, who has been pumping out stats about new home starts, enhanced allowances and expedited building programmes at a ferocious...