Our Health Minister James Reilly has an almost impossible
job. Being Deputy Leader of the main
government party usually brings with it enormous kudos. Instead in this government his role as deputy
leader of Fine Gael is often forgotten both in the media and in politics. He is technically one heart beat away from
being Taoiseach. Politically he is an
Irish mile away from ever being Taoiseach.
Until the 2011 election Reilly had an outstanding reputation on the
floor of the Dail as he harried Mary Harney about misdiagnoses, co-location and health
cuts. When the right wing of Fine Gael
failed to ditch Enda Kenny 2 years ago Reilly was the surprise appointment to
replace Richard Bruton as FG’s new no 2.
That all seems an age ago now. To his credit the mammoth that was once the
HSE is on its way out the door. The extension to Wexford General Hospital did
get the nod from his department although I’ve been known to credit my colleague
Brendan Howlin with that on one or two occasions! I get the feeling that for Dr Reilly the tide
may be turning within his own party. My
ears pricked up recently when I heard a TD who was passed over for preferment
by Enda Kenny say on radio he’d bought a 2nd hand Merc. As one who
likes to read political tea leaves that was an interesting statement given that
ministers are required to provide their own car. Reilly remains surprisingly to me one heart
beat away from controversy. I’m not
going to rehash the Revenue or Stubbs controversy but these do raise eyebrows. The country pile and how salaries at the top
end of the health service seem to remain immune to cuts are also mentioned in
despatches.
North Dublin politics is rough as I well know from my time
living there. To give him credit he
re-invigorated Fine Gael in Fingal after they lost their seat there when he
could have stayed outside and developed his successful practice and continue in
medical politics. His FG predecessors there were steeped in FG history and
while he won his seat easily he doesn’t have the sense of FG tradition of a
Kenny or Bruton.
Looking forward to the end of the year, all ministers will
have a tough estimate to thrash out given the targets set by the Troika. I may be alone now in detecting in FG an
isolation of his position given Leo Varadkar’s accurate clarification of the
government position on the CPA but given all that this government has been
through in the last 18 months one wonders if there may be a reshuffle in the
offing after the budget and referendum are out of the way? The ministerial crown (no pun intended
Senator!) may be on Reilly’s head but is there just now a question mark over
how long more it may be there?
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