What to do with Simon?
With battle won, Leo must work with former ‘rivals’
SIMON Coveney will not be given the post of tánaiste despite winning a resounding victory among the Fine Gael membership over new leader and incoming taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Mr Varadkar all but confirmed that Frances Fitzgerald would be staying in her role as Tánaiste, despite hopes among many in Fine Gael that a Dublin-Cork duopoly at the head of Government would strengthen the party in the next election.
But Mr Varadkar will meet Mr Coveney today at a secret location in Dublin to see what job he might want in Cabinet.
‘We’re going to have a discussion about that,’ Mr Varadkar told a press conference when asked about Mr Coveney’s future role under his leadership.
Mr Coveney himself was giving nothing away, although it would be a surprise if he were to move away from the critical area of housing and homelessness, where he has begun to make inroads.
But Mr Varadkar hinted at promotion: ‘I think his stock has gone up in everyone’s estimation.’ He added, however, that he had given little thought to the share-out of jobs in his new administration.
It may be, therefore, that Mr Coveney will be allowed his pick of jobs, albeit without the designation of tánaiste that would allow him to field Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil on Thursdays and substitute for the Taoiseach.
Asked by the Irish Daily Mail if Mr Coveney could expect to become tánaiste on foot of his performance among the grassroots (he won a 65% share), Mr Varadkar said: ‘We have a Tánaiste. The Tánaiste is Frances Fitzgerald. She is doing a really great job as Tánaiste and I am grateful to her for the support she has given me.’
Some have speculated that Mr Coveney could move to Foreign Affairs, where Charlie Flanagan could lose out in the light of a reference by Mr Varadkar last night to having a ‘new generation’ in Cabinet to reflect his own
Meeting with Coveney today
election.
Such a move could prove attractive to Mr Varadkar as it would keep Mr Coveney out of the country for long periods, thereby minimising the Cork man’s ability to nurture unhappiness with the backbenches and grassroots should the new Taoiseach’s regime not get off to a good start.
Similarly, it has been suggested that the price of Ms Fitzgerald keeping her Tánaiste position would be a move to lesser responsibilities – with Mr Coveney moving into the critical Justice portfolio.
Meanwhile, the new leader will also spend this weekend weighing up the pros and cons of keeping Mr Coveney’s most loyal supporter in the Cabinet versus the merits and risks of demoting him.
Simon Harris hopes and expects to be left where he is. And, indeed, this seems the most likely outcome. There are a number of points in favour of Mr Harris staying in Health, even though he backed the wrong horse in recent weeks.
In the first place, Mr Harris has shown aptitude and has spoken of the need for consistency at the helm of Health.
Mr Varadkar has backed a longterm approach, and this week’s report on the future of the health system is the product of a new allparty Dáil committee charged with bringing an agreed focus on where we go from here. Question marks over its finances – raised in yesterday’s Irish Daily Mail – will undoubtedly undermine its ability to be translated into real action.
Meanwhile, health policy has long been hobbled by local concerns and nimbyism.
Then there’s the political considerations, including that it would be a form of punishment to leave him where he is. Earlier this year, Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan posted to a Fine Gael WhatsApp group that Simon ‘wants out of Health.’ The two men tried to laugh it off when the post was publicised – but there it was.
Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar is conscious that a transfer of Mr Harris to lesser responsibilities could be viewed as vengeful. Mr Harris could then become a pole of attraction for an anti-Leo rump that might emerge in the future.
There is also a fourth element, in that Mr Harris has not been personally duplicitous to Leo. There was democratic contest and the Wicklow man simply backed the wrong horse. Furthermore he told Mr Varadkar to his face that he would back Simon, since the latter fits more closely with his own personal political philosophy.
Mr Harris has been telling friends that he got into politics because of his autistic brother and has always felt the need for the party to be about more than just economics, or the ‘people who get up early in the morning’.
He genuinely believes in the Just Society and its underpinning principles, he says, and it is not the case that he has ever been ‘bosom mates’ with Mr Coveney and determined to back him for personal reasons. His support of Mr Coveney, ‘preventing him from coming across as Billy No Mates,’ as one supporter put it, and enabled him to deepen his national appeal.
It should all ensure that Mr Harris remains in Cabinet, whereas troublemaking backbencher Kate O’Connell – who spoke of the chorus of choirboys singing for their supper with Leo – cannot now hope for any early advancement.
Harris deepened national appeal