Religious conviction for verbal brawls

DÁIL SKETCH:BARE-KNUCKLE political exchanges and the biblical were part of the mix in the Dáil yesterday.

Government backbenchers have been wondering in recent days when Sinn Féin was likely to be challenged about former IRA prisoner Thomas McFeely, developer of Priory Hall in Dublin, the residents of which have had to leave because it is a fire hazard.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny raised it with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, who had criticised him for not doing enough for the Aviva employees.

Kenny said 300 people had to leave an apartment complex, “built by an acquaintance of the deputy’’, to stay in a hotel.

“He blatantly flouted the planning regulations,’’ he added.

As the Government backbenchers rowed in, the Sinn Féin leader said the remark amounted to defamation and should be withdrawn.

“Do a Pontius Pilate on it,’’ advised Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs Dinny McGinley.

Adams’s party colleague Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was certainly not prepared to wash his hands of the issue. “That man should face the full rigours of the law,” he declared.

As Kenny welcomed Ó Caoláin’s remark, an angry Adams rounded on Kenny. “You are a disgrace, Taoiseach.” It was untruthful, said Adams, to say the developer was a party associate.

By then, Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party was on his feet to raise the plight of those with mortgage difficulties.

Unimpressed with the Kenny-Adams verbal brawl, he said: “I blush to think Aviva workers might be looking to us with hope that we might rescue their jobs.” Accusing Minister for Finance Michael Noonan of crushing the hopes of 300,000 mortgage holders, the former seminarian used a biblical analogy to emphasise his point.

“The Taoiseach knows about the man who fell among thieves while travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was left dazed and badly beaten by the side of the road.

“The first passersby to come along were a priest and a Levite, who diverted their gaze and no doubt murmured to themselves that he must have done something to deserve it.” That, said Higgins, whose seminary experience was in the United States in the 1960s, was the Government’s response to the victims of the bankers and developers.

Kenny observed that his biblical remarks meant Higgins had not entirely forgotten about the seminary. The Taoiseach added that he did not have the €14 billion to write off all the mortgages in difficulty, adding the Government was trying to produce a set of decisions to help the maximum number of people.

Still in seminarian mode, Higgins wished the Government could get an insight into the “horrible purgatory” of debt.

Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett warned members he wanted a seminary-like silence from them when their party leaders had the floor in future.

They were abusing the time constraints by “shouting and roaring”, he said. “I am going to put a stop to it,’’ he added.

Some hope, with a presidential election next week and political points to be scored.