World of Politics with Hartry McGee

Who thought this minor row over speaking rights in the Dáil would have rumbled on for a fortnight and threatened to derail the whole political process?

The wrangle was a real ‘inside baseball’ moment – politicians from all sides getting wound up over an issue that was, to be frank, the wrong issue … not Storm Éowyn; or the fact that Donald Trump was imposing tariffs against with the abandon of a farmer firing buckshots at random crows.

On Tuesday this week we were still in the situation where more than 25,000 homes, businesses and farms were still without power after twelve days. And it could be the weekend before the power is restored to the worst affected areas which are Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and Leitrim.

In the meantime, Trump has imposed 25 per cent tariffs (since withdrawn temporarily) on Canada and Mexico, while also going ahead with ten per cent tariffs against China, for which it has retaliated. He is now threatening tariffs against the EU.

Make no mistake about it, if he goes ahead with it, that is going to really hurt Ireland. Despite our tiny size we are one of the countries with the biggest exports to the US, exporting over €70 billion worth in 2022, mostly in Pharma and medical equipment, with vaccines, blood, toxins and antiserum products making up a considerable portion of that.

Tariffs on Ireland will hurt us. So will some other outworkings of Trump’s America First policy if they are implemented, including the repatriation, for tax purposes, of what he considers to be US profits. If he keeps on signing Executive Orders at the rate of dozens every day we could be in trouble.

And meanwhile, Irish politics is dominated by a fight over process.

That is not to belittle it. Everyone elected to parliament should have a right to have speaking time in the Dáil. And speaking time should be ordered proportionately according to the strength of groups. It should also afford fairness and equity to the TDs who belong to tiny groups or to no group at all.

It’s also worth saying that there’s a rough rule of thumb that governments are as likely to fall over a trivial row as they are over a major matter of State. The Fianna Fáil and Labour coalition of 1992 to 1994 fell when a row broke out after Fianna Fáil proposed the Attorney General become President of the High Court.

That led to scrutiny over how his office had handled the extradition of a paedophile priest, Brendan Smith (itself a serious matter). It all spiralled into a crisis.

Pictured: Baptism of fire…Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy.