Dean Buckley Irish Politics

Mattie McGrath’s Incoherence on Housing

South Tipp TD Mattie McGrath made a curious contribution during a Dáíl housing debate last week, video of which he shared on his Facebook page. Here’s the relevant portion, quoted from the Dáíl record:

“It is a mammoth task. We have to get real. The idea of the left here is that we cannot have private contractors or developers. If we do not have private developers involved, we will not build the houses, full stop. I would love to be back in the 1940s and 1950s when the county council had manpower and built the houses, but those days are gone. We have to get over these ideologies, stop objecting to housing being built and encourage the voluntary sector. I am a member of Caislean Nua Voluntary Housing Association. It is the proudest thing I was ever involved in. We built 17 houses. That is not many but it was a voluntary committee. If every village and hamlet built ten, we would halve the housing crisis.”

What’s curious about it is that I was under the impression that Mattie McGrath regarded the gutting of local authorities, their resources and manpower, as a bad thing that should be reversed. Once upon a time, he joined a High Court action to challenge the constitutionality of the abolition and merger of various local authorities under the Fine Gael / Labour austerity coalition, and hardly a day goes by he does not bemoan the abolition of Clonmel Borough Council in particular. That the loss of that council has been disastrous for services and development in Clonmel is something on which Deputy McGrath and I agree.

But apparently, the idea that councils should be resourced, staffed and empowered to build public housing at scale is a suggestion to be dismissed out of hand as unrealistic, and more than that, ideological. Deputy McGrath starts by attacking the strawman idea that “the left” want to abolish all private housing development, but what he actually attacks is the notion of public housing itself. This is at odds not only with his professed views on councils, but his professed views on housing.

Continue reading “Mattie McGrath’s Incoherence on Housing” →
Dean Buckley Irish Politics

Interview: Iva Pocock, Green Candidate for Tipp North

For the general election, I have decided to conduct a candidate interview series with the candidates seeking to represent Tipperary in the 34th Dáil. I initially hoped to arrange to do proper interviews with as many candidates as possible, but in the interest of giving the candidates equal time and opportunity to respond, I’ve emailed them each ten questions. Nine of the ten questions are the same for all candidates, with one question (#9) tailored to the candidate. All candidates of the same party were given the same tailored question. I will be publishing responses in the order I receive them.

Next up: Iva Pocock, Green candidate for Tipp North.

Continue reading “Interview: Iva Pocock, Green Candidate for Tipp North” →
Dean Buckley Irish Politics

Interview: Bill Fitzgerald, Independent Candidate for Tipp South

For the general election, I have decided to conduct a candidate interview series with the candidates seeking to represent Tipperary in the 34th Dáil. I initially hoped to arrange to do proper interviews with as many candidates as possible, but in the interest of giving the candidates equal time and opportunity to respond, I’ve emailed them each ten questions. Nine of the ten questions are the same for all candidates, with one question (#9) tailored to the candidate. All candidates of the same party were given the same tailored question. I will be publishing responses in the order I receive them.

Next up: Bill Fitzgerald, independent candidate for Tipp South.

Continue reading “Interview: Bill Fitzgerald, Independent Candidate for Tipp South” →
Dean Buckley Irish Politics

Interview: Diana O’Dwyer, People Before Profit Candidate for Tipp North

For the general election, I have decided to conduct a candidate interview series with the candidates seeking to represent Tipperary in the 34th Dáil. I initially hoped to arrange to do proper interviews with as many candidates as possible, but in the interest of giving the candidates equal time and opportunity to respond, I’ve emailed them each ten questions. Nine of the ten questions are the same for all candidates, with one question (#9) tailored to the candidate. All candidates of the same party were given the same tailored question. I will be publishing responses in the order I receive them.

Next up: Diana O’Dwyer, People Before Profit candidate for Tipp North.

Continue reading “Interview: Diana O’Dwyer, People Before Profit Candidate for Tipp North” →
Dean Buckley Irish Politics

Michael Lowry Voted with Government More Than 75% in Last Dáil

Michael Lowry sided with the government on more than 75% of votes in the 33rd Dáil, according to data from an analysis of voting patterns by writer and activist Conall Mc Callig. I asked Conall for the stats on Tipp’s five incumbent TDs, four of whom are seeking reelection on the 29th of November, including Lowry.

Fianna Fáil’s Jackie Cahill, Tipp’s only government TD since 2016, unsurprisingly tops the table, voting with the government 99.3%. However, Cahill declared he wouldn’t be running again due to health concerns, and was replaced on the ticket by Cllrs. Michael Smith of Roscrea and Ryan O’Meara of Cloughjordan.

Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne voted with the government least often, just 4.46% of the time, followed by independent Mattie McGrath on 8.9% and Labour’s Alan Kelly on 15.53%.

But Michael Lowry stands well apart from his colleagues, voting with the government 77.3% of the time. To give a sense of scale, he has voted with the outgoing government more than twice as often as the other three incumbents combined, and closer to thrice as often than twice.

Interestingly, he’s also the only Tipp TD to never abstain on a vote in the 33rd Dáil.

Lowry is the third-longest-serving TD in the Dáil, at just over 37.5 years, after his former party colleague Bernard Durkan (43.5) and FF’s Willie O’Dea (42.5), and just ahead of the Tánaiste Micheál Martin at 35.5 years.

He was a Fine Gael TD from his first election in 1987 until late 1996, and served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications under Taoiseach John Bruton. He was forced to resign after it emerged that supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne paid for a £395,000 extension to Lowry’s home (equivalent to almost a million euro today). He was reelected as an independent in the 1997 election and has stood as one ever since.

The contrast between his voting patterns and the other incumbents seeking reelection is also reflected when comparing the TDs’ votes to the aggregate votes of their Dáil grouping.

Martin Browne (4.46%) voted with the government half as often as Sinn Féin (9.15%), while Alan Kelly (15.53%) voted with the government slightly more than Labour (12.02%) and Mattie McGrath (8.9%) voted with the government slightly less than the Rural Group (10.36%).

Meanwhile, Lowry at 77.3% voted with the government much more often than the Regional Group at 53.24%. He was the second-most pro-government TD sitting in opposition during the 33rd Dáil, after his Regional Group colleague Noel Grealish (excluding Joe McHugh and Marc MacSharry, who started on the government benches before moving to opposition).

Lowry announced his reelection bid surprisly late in the day, prompting speculation in Tipp political circles he might step aside for his son Micheál or one of the other councillors elected under the Lowry Group banner in June.

He was interviewed in August of this year by Gardaí from the Criminal Assets Bureau investigating matters arising from the Moriarty Tribunal. The Tribunal’s final report, published in 2011, found “beyond doubt” that Lowry corruptly influenced the awarding of Ireland’s second mobile telephone license to Esat Telecom, owned by billionaire Denis O’Brien, among other wrongdoing.

Lowry rejects the report, and refused to resign following an all-party motion in the Dáil calling on him to do so after its publication.