The summer holiday lives of the Dáil’s Socialists
duo 'Higgins & Daly'
TDs are heading off on their summer break this week — but it will be “activism as usual” for the Socialist Party’s Dáil duo Joe Higgins and Clare Daly.
Joe (63) and Clare (44), live on the average industrial wage and have a single-minded belief that their vision of a democratic socialist utopia is the right one.
And these class warriors rarely relax in their quest to overthrow the capitalist system — with politics coming first and personal lives a distant second place.
Asked once what he did in his free time, Joe said he had very little of it due to his commitment to politics. Minutes of a meeting of the United Left Alliance last year show that Joe wanted them to choose election candidates who were “the most willing to make sacrifices in their personal lives for politics”.
He was famous for driving a battered 1992 Toyota Corolla — although he changed over recently to a 2003 Nissan Primera. His annual holiday is a week at home with his elderly mother Nell in his native Kerry.
His simple lifestyle dates back to his childhood in the village of Lispole as one of nine children. He worked on the small family farm before and after school. And he walked to his classes barefoot during the summertime.
Former senator Joe O’Toole attended the Christian Brothers secondary school in Dingle at the same time as him. “I hold him in the highest regard, even though I don’t agree with his views on a lot of things. He acts by virtue of his convictions,” he said.
Joe Higgins has told the story of how his grandfather used to bring him to O’Sullivan’s bar in Lispole as a young boy and get him a small glass of Guinness. Joe still has the occasional pint of Guinness as an adult, but he is very much a social drinker.
“He’d have a pint but he’s not a drinking man,” said one local.
Joe’s brother Liam was an excellent footballer who won two All-Ireland medals at full-forward with Kerry in 1969 and 1970. And he went on to become a much-loved GAA commentator with Radio Kerry before dying in 2006 from cancer at the age of 61. But even though he follows the fortunes of the Kerry team, Joe is no dyed-in-the wool sports fan.
He lives alone in a two-storey semi-detached house in Mulhuddart in his Dublin West constituency. Despite his aversion to banks, he took out a mortgage for IR£47,000 (€59,677) in 1995 to buy the house in the Briarwood Close estate from the council. It is due to be paid off fully by 2015.
Clare has a similar two-storey semi-detached house in the Elmwood Drive estate in Swords. Back in 2004, she led a campaign to get a lane in the estate blocked off to prevent anti-social behaviour. But overall, the estate has a settled reputation. While Joe is single, Clare has one daughter, Kate, with her husband Michael Murphy.
Unlike her colleague, she has far more interest in music and books. She describes herself as a having an absolutely fanatical interest in Sherlock Holmes — and has visited the official museum in London.
And her music tastes were obvious even in the Fingal council chamber in Swords, where she was noted there for turning up dressed in jeans and a Morrissey T-shirt. She is also a huge fan of Morrissey’s previous band, the Smiths. But locals have noticed that she has dispensed with the “jeans and T-shirt” look since being elected to the Dáil last year.
As a male TD, there is not the same focus on Joe’s fashion wardrobe, but his fondness for simple attire is in keeping with his Spartan lifestyle. He is not, as he has said himself, a wearer of the Charvet shirts beloved of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.
Clare and Joe have a very similar “anti-socialising policy” when it comes to “right-wing politicians”.
“Their philosophy is that you must not fraternise with the enemy. It was very difficult to get them even to acknowledge you,” said one former Fingal County councillor.
But there was one great exception — when Joe, Clare and fellow Socialist Party councillor Ruth Coppinger turned up at Swords Castle for a summer party for the winners of the 2009 local elections. They went up to the free buffet in the marquee — where smoked salmon sandwiches were available. Their council colleagues thought this was the moment when the ice would be broken. But Joe, Clare and Ruth retreated to a grassy spot in the castle grounds and sat down on their own.
The only place Clare regularly socialised with her council colleagues was in the smoking area in the courtyard of the council headquarters. She used to smoke 40-50 cigarettes a day but was getting pleurisy — an inflammation of the lining of the lungs and chest — as a result. She quit altogether after her sister sent her on an ‘Allen Carr Easyway to Stop Smoking’ course.
Whatever their lifestyle differences, Joe and Clare have followed the same path politically. They were both expelled from the Labour Party in 1989 for being members of the ‘Militant Tendency’ organisation.
They were founder members of the Socialist Party in 1996. They established themselves in Dublin constituencies despite being born elsewhere — in Clare’s case, Newbridge in Kildare. Her strong political views were not inherited from her family who she said were “staunch blueshirts” (Fine Gael supporters). Her late father, Kevin, served as a colonel in the Irish Army and director of signals.
Joe and Clare spent a month locked up — Joe in Mountjoy and Clare in the Dóchas women’s prison — for their opposition to bin charges in 2003.
Both of them are atheists who draw their inspiration from revolutionary socialists. Clare identifies Jim Larkin as her hero. Joe “isn’t big into the idea of heroes”, but filmed a TG4 documentary on one of them — Che Guevara.
While Che travelled around South America on a motorbike, it emerged recently that Joe and Clare had been using their travel expenses to go around the country telling people not to pay the €100 household charge.
But the Leinster House authorities told them they could only claim expenses for travel in their constituencies.
That prompted Joe to complain once more about the “right-wing media” for reporting the story. But he derives his only other form of income from this very source — as a columnist for the Irish Daily Mail.
Clare’s only source of income is her Dail salary. She previously worked in the Aer Lingus catering section packing sausages into foil breakfast trays for a living. She was also SIPTU shop steward for the airline at Dublin Airport, where she was popular with her co-workers.
“She was a good SIPTU rep — she went to the ends of the earth to represent people,” one former trade unionist said.
Aer Lingus confirmed that Ms Daly is currently on a sabbatical from Aer Lingus for the duration of her term in the Dáil. She is not entitled to any pay or pension rights while she is absent. Her register of interest shows that she has shares in Aer Lingus — which she acquired under the employee share option scheme.
The Socialist Party has been badly damaged by its failure to call for the resignation of Mick Wallace over his €2.1m tax settlement with the Revenue.
Joe was well known in the past for courageously taking on developers over corrupt rezoning.
And in the Fingal council chamber, Clare was also fiercely anti-developer. That made it all the more surprising when she was spotted last year having dinner with Mr Wallace in Dublin’s plush One Pico restaurant, just yards from Leinster House. And she was one of his strongest supporters in the Technical Group of Independent TDs — before he was forced to resign from it.
The failure of Clare and Joe to call on Mr Wallace to resign has led to complaints at meetings of the United Left Alliance to which they belong that a stronger stand should have been taken.
With a Dáil motion of censure against Mr Wallace in prospect and his association with the anti-household charge campaign getting more embarrassing, Joe and Clare are finally manoeuvring away from him. In a collective statement last week, they said Mr Wallace has not fully registered the significance of his “wrongdoing”.
The focus for Joe and Clare now is continuing the anti-household charge crusade — which has so far succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in reaching far more people than their previous campaigns against water charges and bin charges.
And expect them to be protesting loudly if local authority services are cut — as a result of the non-payment of the household charge leaving a hole in council budgets.
It will be a busy summer for the two key members of the Socialist network.
TDs are heading off on their summer break this week — but it will be “activism as usual” for the Socialist Party’s Dáil duo Joe Higgins and Clare Daly.
Joe (63) and Clare (44), live on the average industrial wage and have a single-minded belief that their vision of a democratic socialist utopia is the right one.
And these class warriors rarely relax in their quest to overthrow the capitalist system — with politics coming first and personal lives a distant second place.
Asked once what he did in his free time, Joe said he had very little of it due to his commitment to politics. Minutes of a meeting of the United Left Alliance last year show that Joe wanted them to choose election candidates who were “the most willing to make sacrifices in their personal lives for politics”.
He was famous for driving a battered 1992 Toyota Corolla — although he changed over recently to a 2003 Nissan Primera. His annual holiday is a week at home with his elderly mother Nell in his native Kerry.
His simple lifestyle dates back to his childhood in the village of Lispole as one of nine children. He worked on the small family farm before and after school. And he walked to his classes barefoot during the summertime.
Former senator Joe O’Toole attended the Christian Brothers secondary school in Dingle at the same time as him. “I hold him in the highest regard, even though I don’t agree with his views on a lot of things. He acts by virtue of his convictions,” he said.
Joe Higgins has told the story of how his grandfather used to bring him to O’Sullivan’s bar in Lispole as a young boy and get him a small glass of Guinness. Joe still has the occasional pint of Guinness as an adult, but he is very much a social drinker.
“He’d have a pint but he’s not a drinking man,” said one local.
Joe’s brother Liam was an excellent footballer who won two All-Ireland medals at full-forward with Kerry in 1969 and 1970. And he went on to become a much-loved GAA commentator with Radio Kerry before dying in 2006 from cancer at the age of 61. But even though he follows the fortunes of the Kerry team, Joe is no dyed-in-the wool sports fan.
He lives alone in a two-storey semi-detached house in Mulhuddart in his Dublin West constituency. Despite his aversion to banks, he took out a mortgage for IR£47,000 (€59,677) in 1995 to buy the house in the Briarwood Close estate from the council. It is due to be paid off fully by 2015.
Clare has a similar two-storey semi-detached house in the Elmwood Drive estate in Swords. Back in 2004, she led a campaign to get a lane in the estate blocked off to prevent anti-social behaviour. But overall, the estate has a settled reputation. While Joe is single, Clare has one daughter, Kate, with her husband Michael Murphy.
Unlike her colleague, she has far more interest in music and books. She describes herself as a having an absolutely fanatical interest in Sherlock Holmes — and has visited the official museum in London.
And her music tastes were obvious even in the Fingal council chamber in Swords, where she was noted there for turning up dressed in jeans and a Morrissey T-shirt. She is also a huge fan of Morrissey’s previous band, the Smiths. But locals have noticed that she has dispensed with the “jeans and T-shirt” look since being elected to the Dáil last year.
As a male TD, there is not the same focus on Joe’s fashion wardrobe, but his fondness for simple attire is in keeping with his Spartan lifestyle. He is not, as he has said himself, a wearer of the Charvet shirts beloved of former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.
Clare and Joe have a very similar “anti-socialising policy” when it comes to “right-wing politicians”.
“Their philosophy is that you must not fraternise with the enemy. It was very difficult to get them even to acknowledge you,” said one former Fingal County councillor.
But there was one great exception — when Joe, Clare and fellow Socialist Party councillor Ruth Coppinger turned up at Swords Castle for a summer party for the winners of the 2009 local elections. They went up to the free buffet in the marquee — where smoked salmon sandwiches were available. Their council colleagues thought this was the moment when the ice would be broken. But Joe, Clare and Ruth retreated to a grassy spot in the castle grounds and sat down on their own.
The only place Clare regularly socialised with her council colleagues was in the smoking area in the courtyard of the council headquarters. She used to smoke 40-50 cigarettes a day but was getting pleurisy — an inflammation of the lining of the lungs and chest — as a result. She quit altogether after her sister sent her on an ‘Allen Carr Easyway to Stop Smoking’ course.
Whatever their lifestyle differences, Joe and Clare have followed the same path politically. They were both expelled from the Labour Party in 1989 for being members of the ‘Militant Tendency’ organisation.
They were founder members of the Socialist Party in 1996. They established themselves in Dublin constituencies despite being born elsewhere — in Clare’s case, Newbridge in Kildare. Her strong political views were not inherited from her family who she said were “staunch blueshirts” (Fine Gael supporters). Her late father, Kevin, served as a colonel in the Irish Army and director of signals.
Joe and Clare spent a month locked up — Joe in Mountjoy and Clare in the Dóchas women’s prison — for their opposition to bin charges in 2003.
Both of them are atheists who draw their inspiration from revolutionary socialists. Clare identifies Jim Larkin as her hero. Joe “isn’t big into the idea of heroes”, but filmed a TG4 documentary on one of them — Che Guevara.
While Che travelled around South America on a motorbike, it emerged recently that Joe and Clare had been using their travel expenses to go around the country telling people not to pay the €100 household charge.
But the Leinster House authorities told them they could only claim expenses for travel in their constituencies.
That prompted Joe to complain once more about the “right-wing media” for reporting the story. But he derives his only other form of income from this very source — as a columnist for the Irish Daily Mail.
Clare’s only source of income is her Dail salary. She previously worked in the Aer Lingus catering section packing sausages into foil breakfast trays for a living. She was also SIPTU shop steward for the airline at Dublin Airport, where she was popular with her co-workers.
“She was a good SIPTU rep — she went to the ends of the earth to represent people,” one former trade unionist said.
Aer Lingus confirmed that Ms Daly is currently on a sabbatical from Aer Lingus for the duration of her term in the Dáil. She is not entitled to any pay or pension rights while she is absent. Her register of interest shows that she has shares in Aer Lingus — which she acquired under the employee share option scheme.
The Socialist Party has been badly damaged by its failure to call for the resignation of Mick Wallace over his €2.1m tax settlement with the Revenue.
Joe was well known in the past for courageously taking on developers over corrupt rezoning.
And in the Fingal council chamber, Clare was also fiercely anti-developer. That made it all the more surprising when she was spotted last year having dinner with Mr Wallace in Dublin’s plush One Pico restaurant, just yards from Leinster House. And she was one of his strongest supporters in the Technical Group of Independent TDs — before he was forced to resign from it.
The failure of Clare and Joe to call on Mr Wallace to resign has led to complaints at meetings of the United Left Alliance to which they belong that a stronger stand should have been taken.
With a Dáil motion of censure against Mr Wallace in prospect and his association with the anti-household charge campaign getting more embarrassing, Joe and Clare are finally manoeuvring away from him. In a collective statement last week, they said Mr Wallace has not fully registered the significance of his “wrongdoing”.
The focus for Joe and Clare now is continuing the anti-household charge crusade — which has so far succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in reaching far more people than their previous campaigns against water charges and bin charges.
And expect them to be protesting loudly if local authority services are cut — as a result of the non-payment of the household charge leaving a hole in council budgets.
It will be a busy summer for the two key members of the Socialist network.
Ireland’s economic prospects much better,
says Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore at McGill Summer School in Donegal
There has been a complete change of tone at the highest level of Government over the past year thanks to Ireland’s improved economic prospects, Tánaiste and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has said.
He told the opening night of the MacGill Summer School that when the Coalition took office last year, Ireland’s very existence as an economic entity was in question.
“There were days when I feared for the financial survival of the State,” said Mr Gilmore, who was delivering the 12th Annual John Hume Lecture at the school in Glenties, Co Donegal.
He had attended a meeting last Wednesday of the Economic Management Council, along with the Taoiseach and Ministers Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin.
“What struck me about last Wednesday, in particular, was how different the tone of the meeting was, compared to some of the EMC meetings that we had in the first few months of the life of this Government.
“In those early days, the crisis that we faced was existential. There were days when I feared for the financial survival of the State.
“Today, while the problems we face are still grave, we are in a much stronger position,” the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
Highlighting the changes in Northern Ireland and John Hume’s role in bringing them about, Mr Gilmore pointed to the changes taking place south of the Border as well. “Twenty years ago, homosexuality was effectively illegal in the Republic and divorce was banned by the Constitution.
“Today, we live in a far more open and tolerant Ireland, where we have civil partnerships for gay couples and the question of full marriage equality is being put to a constitutional convention.”
This year’s summer school theme is “Reforming and Rebuilding our State” and Mr Gilmore commented that this was “not a goal in itself but a means to building a society that better serves its people”.
He added: “The men and women who founded the Labour Party came from thatched cottages and tenement slums. They were born into a world where the circumstances of your birth very often dictated the horizons of your life.
“No one can say that, in the past 50 years, economic progress in Ireland has not brought social progress.”
On health issues, he praised the “enormous work” in the area of primary care carried out by Minister of State Róisín Shortall.
On church-State issues, he said it was time to build a new relationship, “based on mutual understanding and respect but also on the primacy of personal freedom”.
On the future of the news media, he said: “A growing number of people are no longer buying newspapers and are getting their news online. Twenty years from now, will newspapers as we know them still exist? “Where will people turn for reliable information and commentary? How will people be sure that the information that they are getting is accurate, or that commentary is reflective rather than reactive.”
He added: “We need a free media that will hold Government and other institutions to account. We need a media that will provide for fair and balanced debate.”
The official opening of the week-long summer school, named after the Glenties-born writer Patrick MacGill (1889-1963), was performed by the French ambassador to Ireland, Emmanuelle d’Achon.
The Taoiseach will be among the speakers at today’s proceedings where he will give his own views on issues of reform.
Former government minister and leader of the Progressive Democrats Desmond O’Malley will speak on the need for transparency and accountability in the political system.
Another former minister and PD leader, Michael McDowell, will share a platform tonight with Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton at a session of the school in memory of the political scientist Prof Peter Mair, who died last year.
The abolition of Ireland’s councils on the agenda for Cabinet on Monday
Proposals to abolish a number of town councils like above and reform freedom of information legislation are among the issues to be brought to Cabinet tomorrow, the last meeting before the summer break.
About 25 councils out of 80 are at risk of abolition because of their limited range of functions. Town councillors receive an annual payment of €16,700 and any cuts will also have an impact on council staff.
Local government reform proposals by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan are on the list for Cabinet, but senior Government sources have described it as a “long agenda” for the last meeting until September.
Speculation is increasing that the Cabinet will give responsibility for collecting the new property tax to the Revenue Commissioners.
Meanwhile, Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has asked an advisory group to examine the possibility of taxing child benefit for those earning more than €100,000, but Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin described the move as “gesture politics”.
Mr Martin said in an RTÉ radio interview nobody would quibble with taxing high earners, but he did not believe it would have a significant overall effect on the budgetary situation.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, is expected to bring proposals to Cabinet for extending freedom of information legislation.
It is unclear as of yet whether a long-awaited report on allowances paid to staff in the public service will also be discussed today. Mr Howlin has asked all Government departments to draw up a business case for each of the 800 separate allowances currently being paid. The cost of allowances is around €1.5 billion annually.
The review was originally set to be completed last spring; however the deadline has continually been pushed back.
Any move to significantly cut back on allowances could generate the most serious industrial relations problems in the public service since the signing of the Croke Park agreement two years ago. Teaching unions at their annual conferences earlier this year warned they would view any move to cut allowances as a breach of the Croke Park deal.
57% of Ireland’s pharmacists say business is getting worse – survey says
Six out of 10 chemist owners say the business environment is getting worse, with sales and footfall both down well.
Excessive costs and a fall in trade are having a devastating impact on pharmacists, it has been claimed.
And more than half believe trade will fall further in the coming three months.
Costs have also increased for almost a third of them, due to hikes in energy costs, waste charges, commercial rates and rents.
The survey was carried out by the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), which called on Government to address the costs of operating a premises.
Rory O’Donnell, IPU president, said the survey showed community pharmacies are not immune to the economic downturn and are faced with the same challenges as other small businesses.
“The level of confidence in the sector not surprisingly is low due to a reduction in consumer demand, economic uncertainty and an increase in business costs,” he said.
“The excessive cost environment, in particular draconian rents and exorbitant local charges, including commercial rates, remains an area of concern.
“These costs are having a devastating impact on pharmacies throughout the country, with no action being taken by Government to address this issue.”
The IPU represents 1,800 pharmacists across the country, with 120 taking part in its business trends quarterly survey earlier this month.
One in eight said they had reduced costs, while three quarters maintained there had been no change in the number of people they employ.
Irish Hostel & bar owner in Queensland says the Irish Down Under are “letting the nation down”
Irish bar and hostel owner Thomas Dunne stirred up a lot of controversy last month when he refused to take in Irish backpackers and he’s since had a lot more to say.
The Dublin-born owner of the Main Street Backpackers in Queensland chose to comment on the imposition of fines for two rowdy Irish backpackers who damaged at his hostel last month, branding an Australian court’s decision too “lenient”.
“It’s an ongoing problem, but this year has been the worst,” Mr Dunne told the Sunday Independent. “Of the eight Irish people we’ve had this year, six of them were kicked out in the first couple of weeks.
“I have no problem with skill-based migration and the great majority of Irish who emigrated worldwide over the past 100 years have been a credit to Ireland, being high achievers and setting up many fine institutions.
“But the unskilled Irish backpackers coming to Australia in the past few years are a big let-down to Irish people everywhere. We’re Irish and people tell me I’ve got to look after my own, but my own are wrecking the joint and causing problems.
Mr Dunne made the decision not to allow any more Irish backpackers into his establishment last month following the arrest of the two men for damage done to his accommodation. The teenagers were charged the equivalent of €76 and ordered to pay the hostel owner a further €119 each after breaking a louvre, a table and two chairs.
Household tax charge reminders to be sent to Irish home-owners
Another round of warning letters are to be sent out to homeowners who have failed to pay the household charge will be issued in the coming weeks, the Department of the Environment has said.
An additional 14,000 households have registered to pay the charge since the first warning letters were issued three weeks ago.
As of Friday, 992,924 properties had been registered for the charge. Some 967,937 had paid the charge, while 18,687 had registered for a waiver. The remaining 6,300 applications were awaiting resolution of queries.
So far €97.5 million has been collected in charges and late fees. The tax is €100 but those paying since July 1st owe €114 including penalties and interest.
Between July 2nd and 16th, 103,000 reminder letters were sent to households believed to have an outstanding household charge liability. These letters were sent by city and county councils.
Almost all householders who received letters will have been second-home owners already liable to pay the non-principal private residence or second home tax. These homeowners were identified using the NPPR data base and the register of private rented accommodation held by the Private Residential Tenancies Board.
However, the new round of letters will be sent to non-payers who have been identified using sources such as the Revenue Commissioners, ESB Networks and the Department of Social Protection.
This wave is more likely to reach homeowners in financially difficult circumstances, Dublin city councillor Cieran Perry, who opposes the charge, said.
“The next round of letters will be much more targeted towards ordinary people who don’t have the ability to pay and we’re likely to see a lot more resistance and a lot more vocal resistance to the charge as a result of these letters.”
Letters will initially be sent to about 100,000 households but will continue to be issued until all those who have failed to pay have received a letter informing them of their liability for the charge, a spokesman for the Department of the Environment said.
The new letters will take the same form as those sent earlier this month. The letter tells the recipient that it has come to the attention of the local authority they may be liable for the charge. It details the amount of the charge plus penalties now owed and how to pay or apply for a waiver.
Those who do not pay would be sent a second letter and this reminder would be “more strongly worded”, the spokesman for the department said.
A third letter would advise non-payers of court proceedings.
The Government is considering handing over responsibility for collecting the property tax, which would replace the household charge, to the Revenue Commissioners.
A spokeswoman for Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said she was not in a position to confirm whether the issue would be on the Cabinet agenda tomorrow.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil the Government had yet to make a decision on the format for collecting the forthcoming property tax and refused to be drawn on speculation it could be directly deducted from PAYE salaries.
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