RTE DEBATE
Paul Healy
It’s official then… we’ve borrowed yet another word from our American friends.
As far as I’ve been aware, in Ireland the word ‘pathway’ has always been used to describe a… pathway, i.e. a physical route of some sort. But now, presumably thanks to Katie Hannon watching too much CNN recently, it will forever more be used in the context of Irish political parties seeking/reaching a majority in Dáil Éireann.
We didn’t need this to happen… but it did. Early into Monday night’s Leaders’ Debate on Upfront with Katie Hannon (RTE One), the host asked Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald if she had a ‘pathway to power’.
Please don’t, I urged Katie, but it was too late. She even repeated the phrase. “Mary Lou, have you a pathway to power?” Nobody blinked, the phrase allowed to enter our political lexicon unchallenged. Trust me, there will be no turning back.
There were already eleven people on the podium – ten party leaders and Katie – but I expected John King (of CNN fame) to scurry on to the set with an elaborate graphic showing Mary Lou’s potential pathway, courtesy of a few swings in Dublin or elsewhere.
There appeared to be little attempt by RTE/Hannon to ensure equity on speaking time, with the leaders of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin – as it happens, the three people vying to be our next Taoiseach – completely dominating the opening exchanges. Social Democrats Deputy Leader Cian O’Callaghan (standing in for Holly Cairns), Right to Change leader Joan Collins, and Independent Ireland’s Michael Collins could have had a game of 25 in the corner during the first half hour, such was the extent to which they were ignored.
Instead, all the ‘action’ was at the other end, where Micheál Martin and Simon Harris found themselves lined up together. It created a clear visual image of FF & FG versus the rest – the establishment versus those who are supposedly out to end ‘100 years’ of dominance by the big two. Whether that look suited Martin and Harris or not is debatable.
After opening skirmishes saw the leaders of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin’s squabbling, Aontú’s Peader Tobin went straight into ‘stir it up’ mode, raising eyebrows as he went on the attack. Accusing the ‘big three’ of not giving straight answers, he told a startled Taoiseach that if he – Simon Harris – was working in the private sector, he’d have been fired by now. Tobin was a contender for performer of the night.
When Richard Boyd Barrett – arms folded in bemusement during the opening exchanges – was finally asked to contribute, he was typically forceful and articulate.
All verbal arrows seemed to be aimed at Harris and Martin, the duo concentrating their attacks on she who would dare covet the top job: Mary Lou.
When the Sinn Féin leader predictably made an impassioned call for an end to ‘100 years’ of FF/FG rule – at least one of those parties always having been in power – both Harris and Martin took grave exception. It’s the people who put us there, an affronted (and decidedly grumpy) Harris noted, while Martin went on a ferocious attack, accusing Sinn Féin of having “opposed the State” and “murdered Gardaí and soldiers”.
For his part, Harris pounced when accused by McDonald of showing “faux concern” for children. Rather than addressing her specific point, he said: “Wow. How dare you… how dare you accuse anyone of faux concern for children… who do think you are… that you have a monopoly on compassion?” The Sinn Féin leader looked momentarily stunned.
Later, the Taoiseach had a bad wobble when he dithered over accepting responsibility for being the person in charge (of health) when the National Children’s Hospital was first signed off on. It was an awkward moment for Harris, who was more than a little tetchy throughout the debate.
I’m not sure if there was any clear winner. Watching on RTE Plus 1, I was nodding off – on my own ‘pathway to sleep’ – before the end.
