Irish Departure Steps Examiner His View: Senior Politics From Another Yet Announces Back Figure As Coveney

Irish Examiner view: Yet another senior figure steps back as Coveney announces his departure from politics — Pa Means Recently Turnaround Picture: A For Had A Striking File Coveney’s For Cabinet Until Heavyweight Instance Departure Constituency Three Which Ministers, Simon

Thu, 11 Jul, 2024 - 01:00

Another politician announced his departure from the main stage this week — former tánaiste Simon Coveney, of Fine Gael, will not contest the next election. The Cork South Central representative has been a TD for 26 years.

As ever, such an announcement has local and national significance.

Mr Coveney’s departure means a striking turnaround for a constituency which until recently had three heavyweight Cabinet ministers, for instance.

His Cork South Central colleague Michael McGrath has departed from the Department of Finance to become European commissioner, while Tánaiste Micheál Martin has been linked with a bid for the presidency next year.

Has it ever happened in Irish politics before that a constituency with three senior ministers lost all three when the next general election rolled around? On a parochial basis, it would have been interesting to see the voters’ judgement of those ministers’ performances on matters such as the long-awaited Cork Events Centre.

In a wider context, Mr Coveney’s news is reminiscent of other recent announcements which brought other high-profile careers to an end.

The departure of other big political beasts, such as party leaders Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael) and Eamon Ryan (Greens), was mirrored by the revelation that Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall — the co-founders of the Social Democrats — will not run for election either.

The churn of candidates is a constant in politics, but what is noteworthy here is the departure of so many senior figures in a short space of time. The various parties will miss that experience and nous when the smoke clears after the next general election and the coalition horse-trading begins.

The flip side is that all of those vacancies must be filled, and the jockeying for position has already begun. It was interesting to note, for example, that Limerick hurling manager John Kiely has been linked with a run for the Dáil.

He will hardly be the last high-profile candidate to be mentioned in dispatches.

The prospect of the next general election gets more and more interesting.

Behind Dubai's glossy image

The Tori Towey case progressed yesterday when the Roscommon native’s travel ban was lifted by the authorities in Dubai.

Her case was raised in the Dáil earlier this week when Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said Ms Towey could not leave the United Arab Emirates after being attacked in her home, and that she faced charges of attempted suicide and alcohol consumption. The Taoiseach said then that there was a lot of diplomatic activity going on in the background, but added it was an “absolute priority” to get Ms Towey back home. Now that travel ban has been lifted and the charges withdrawn.

Irish citizens are entitled to the full support of the State when abroad, and it was good to see that support in this case. The Taoiseach’s reference to diplomatic work behind the scenes was telling — often the most significant breakthroughs in such situations are accomplished in the background through patient, unglamorous work.

This case also deals a considerable blow to the carefully cultivated image projected by certain states in this region, the years of positioning themselves as high-end luxury
destinations. Is this a glimpse of the harsh reality behind the shiny surface?

The glossy image was burnished by energetic sportswashing — see the World Cup held in Qatar and the LIV Golf Tour — and lavishly-rewarded ambassadors and influencers. That promotion did not take into account the grim reality of life in some of these locations, however, including appalling human rights records, the abuse and deaths of migrant workers, and widespread oppression of and violence against women.

In the latter case, it should give pause to holidaymakers thinking of heading east that in Ms Towey’s case, she was facing charges of alcohol consumption, yet human rights activists have pointed out that the United Arab Emirates has already decriminalised alcohol consumption.

Ms Towey’s safety and return home were the priorities, and the Government deserves credit for its swift work here. The damage done to the image of Dubai may be a long-term matter, however.

Hello, Heimir

It has been a challenging week for the FAI, which apologised on Monday to female players who experienced unwanted or inappropriate sexual advances from FAI coaches in the 1990s.

The revelations put the onus on the organisation, as the Irish Examiner’s soccer correspondent John Fallon pointed out, to assure the 400,000 people involved in the game that football is a safe space. In that context, the announcement of Heimir Hallgrímsson as manager of the Republic of Ireland men’s team was timely, focusing minds on the playing fields again. The FAI has taken almost eight months to appoint the Iceland native as a replacement for Stephen Kenny, and it must be pointed out Hallgrímsson is not as well known as the other candidate, former Ireland international Lee Carsley, now highly regarded as a coach with the England U21 team.

The fact Hallgrímsson managed his native country to
victory over England in the 2016 Euros, however, was surely no impediment to his cause. His most recent managerial post was with the Jamaican national team, but yesterday, many focused on Hallgrímsson’s other life — as a practicing
dentist. Readers can look forward to all the terrible dental puns in the coming months with gritted teeth.

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