3 posts tagged “brian cowen”
RTÉ are reporting that new Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, is already making friends in the Dail:
A spokesman for the Taoiseach has said Brian Cowen regrets any offence caused by remarks picked up on the Dáil microphones after Leaders Questions this morning.
Mr Cowen was heard using a profanity in what the spokesman said was a casual exchange between working colleagues that was not a reference to any member of the house.
After angry exchanges over health Mr Cowen had been questioned by Labour's Eamon Gilmore on price increases and what he said had been the failure of the National Consumer Agency and other bodies to act.
RTÉ News understands that what the Taoiseach said to Ms Coughlan was: 'We need to get a handle on this, will you ring those f***ers.'
That was a reference to the relevant officials rather than the opposition.
Fine Gael criticised the Taoiseach for using unparliamentary language towards the Opposition, but RTÉ News understands Mr Cowen was not referring to Fine Gael.
The party had just been involved in angry exchanges over health spending.
Fine Gael's Dan Neville cited the remarks in a statement, claiming Mr Cowen had displayed his intolerance for the difficult questions which his party had been putting to him on health spending.
He claimed the Taoiseach had lost it and his use of the f-word referred to Fine Gael.
A Government spokesman earlier confirmed the microphones had picked up what he said was 'a private exchange that was not on the Dáil record.'
Cowen threatens Dail hecklers
At one point in the exchanges over health, Mr Cowen told the Fine Gael spokesman on Health, Dr James Reilly, that if the heckling continued, he could arrange that Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny would not be heard in the chamber again.
The row erupted after Mr Kenny questioned the Taoiseach about health expenditure.
A charge that Fine Gael had not backed a single initiative aimed at improving health services drew instant howls from Mr Kenny's front bench.
Dr Reilly was the most vocal, bellowing across the chamber that Mr Cowen was playing the man not the ball.
Amid continued noisy exchanges, the Taoiseach warned that he could organise similar behaviour from his own benches, before bluntly threatening Dr Reilly.
Mr Kenny protested, the Ceann Comhairle intervened and calm was restored.
Bertie Ahern frequently had to endure barracking from the Opposition during Leaders' Questions, sometimes complaining to the Ceann Comhairle.
But Mr Cowen signalled today he would not be taking it from Fine Gael and Labour, even if he has left himself open to a charge of conduct unbecoming of a Government leader.
As predicted, Brian Cowen is going to become leader of Fianna Fail and thus Taoiseach. Bertie indicated Cowen was his preferred choice and so it came to pass.
Cowen (or 'Biffo' as he's also known) is widely regarded as intelligent, but something of a bruiser. He also has an awful habit of pulling unusual faces while in front of the press. The tongue. Always with the tongue.
Not the most delicate of God's creatures or terribly photogenic. However, the Irish electorate seems happy enough with him. For the moment.
Snakes alive! After a recent question in the Dail (Irish Parliament) about Government Ministers snorting the marching powder, another Minister (and I'm wondering why I chose to capitilise that word...) has been accused of verbally abusing members of the public. In a pub. In Limerick.
Simon Coveney, A Fine Gael TD, challenged Bertie Ahern to respond to allegations that a serving minister regularly enjoyed coke. (And not out of a bottle...). He quoted the minister:
'Yes, I take drugs, only coke, and I am not the only one'.
Obviously, this question was swept aside my Bertie's monkey-in-a-suit, Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue (you can see Johnny-boy in action here) and went unanswered. Frankly, I wasn't surprised at Coveney's question at all, considering some of the reprobates Bertie has in his party.
Which brings me to the one and only Willie O'Dea. Ah Willie. The Irish Examiner is reporting he got into a bit of a kerfuffle in a pub in Limerick, when challenged on his inability to turn up for votes in the Dail. Specifically, the vote concerning Aer Lingus pulling out of Shannon, an area O'Dea represents in the Dail.
"DEFENCE Minister Willie O’Dea verbally abused two people during a pub row over Shannon Airport and offered to fight one of them, it was claimed last night.
John Fahey, chief executive of the Meet Limerick/Shannon conferencing promotion group, and Geraldine Morrissey, spokeswoman for Aer Lingus workers at the airport, are demanding an apology from the minister over the remarks they say he made.However, Mr O’Dea claimed last night it was he who had been abused and denied he offered to fight.
People asked him to explain himself on Shannon. When he tried to speak, Mr Fahey interrupted him only for Ms Morrissey to say, “Let him make his petty point”. Mr O’Dea admitted telling Ms Morrissey to “get lost”, but denied using stronger language or challenging anybody to a fight.The row happened after Mr O’Dea called to South’s pub in Limerick last Saturday night with Tánaiste Brian Cowen. Mr Fahey, a prominent hotelier in the mid-west, was there with his wife and Ms Morrissey.
Ms Morrissey said she was stunned at Mr O’Dea’s behaviour. However, Mr O’Dea insisted the allegations were “rubbish”. He said he returned to the pub to collect his wife only to be “roundly abused”.
“Mr O’Dea was there with the Tánaiste,” said Mr Fahey. “Then they both left together. As they did, a number of people said, ‘What about Shannon, what about Shannon?’”
A short time later, Mr O’Dea returned. Mr Fahey said when Mr O’Dea approached their group, Ms Morrissey challenged him over not being present in the Dáil for a vote on the Shannon issue.
“She asked him why he did not take part in the Dáil debate,” Mr Fahey said. “He said he was the minister for defence and I said, ‘You did not defend the interests of Shannon very well’. At that, he turned around and said, ‘Who is that big p***k?’ and asked me out saying he would like to hit me. I told him, if he was any bigger I might. He then turned to Geraldine Morrissey and said, ‘I don’t give a f**k about you’.”
Some might argue his first mistake was to go out for a drink in Limerick at all, never mind with Brian Cowen, a man whose face invites abuse from the general public. I would argue it was Willie's moustache that got people riled up. It's incredibly ridiculous, potentially stuck on with glue, and is obviously a feeble attempt from a small man to appear more important. I think we'd all agree that he has failed in that attempt.
An alternative explanation could (emphasise could) be linked to the story above and the potential for some of Bertie's boys to be high as kites. I mean, coke is known for its ability to get people riled up, super-confident and a bit fighty. (Yes, fighty in a word). Could these two senior ministers have popped out of the pub for a few lines, and returned confident in their ability to take on the entire pub?
Just asking, that's all.
Sits back awaiting threatening letters from Leinster House...
