[ad_1]
Hon the Taoiseach!
Get in now.
The opposition was pressuring Micheál Martin to pressure Boris Johnson and achieve a result for Ireland.
This could be your moment at Stuttgart ’88: greatness guaranteed along with the eternal gratitude of a nation. He could be the Ray Houghton of his day. And the only thing he’d have to kick is an unprincipled ball of white delicacy named Boris Johnson.
– Who got the ball into England’s net? Micheál. Micheál.
– Who got the ball into England’s net? Taoiseach Martin did.
To be sung with tears of pride in Fianna Fáil Ard Fheiseanna forever and with grudging admiration wherever the proud Gaelics are found.
Act now and it could be your fault, they cajoled other party leaders. Come on, put it under pressure!
If things were that simple, Micheál sighed.
There was no end of encouragement from the Dáil.
“Steam and remove the lumps!” urged Mary Lou McDonald.
“Don’t be afraid to break a hurley,” roared Richard Boyd Barrett.
“Hit him hard, he’s not related,” Alan Kelly yelled.
Or something like that.
But the Taoiseach is not changed for now. He won’t, even if he would love to do his bidding and publicly denounce Johnson for breaching an international treaty and his essential Irish protocol. But at this juncture, he says the EU negotiating team should be allowed to continue the work of arguing with misguided UK representatives as talks enter a very delicate stage, with last minute twists always a possibility.
“Therefore, I will exercise my judgment in terms of how I intervene, when I intervene and the manner of my intervention,” he informed his dejected opponents. They believe a word from Boris’s mouth cannot be trusted and that the only way to get the shameless populist to his feet is to make a fuss and shame him on his own turf. It’s the only thing you understand.
Micheál’s cautious approach made no sense, Mary Lou argued.
“It makes perfect sense. You don’t jump into something,” she explained to the Sinn Féin frontman after she urged him to “dispense with diplomatic niceties” when dealing with a man whose “dangerous and stupid” approach to both Ireland and of the binding treaties was proof that “perfidious Albion is alive and well and lives at 10 Downing Street.”
The Taoiseach elaborately explained that the government was not interested in getting caught up in the cowardly “machinations” with which Boris Johnson is risking his arm in this critical final stage of the Brexit withdrawal negotiations.
On two occasions, he haughtily informed Mary Lou that he knew all about negotiation, clasping his hands and pointing them in her direction to underscore his superiority in this area. “And me do I have a lot of experience in negotiations. You let things… ”He shot a condescending look, spinning the last word in his mouth before illuminating her with it.
“… Evolves …”
She didn’t give in, berating him for taking three “amazing, absolutely amazing” days to decide to even pick up the phone to speak to the reckless PM when her first instinct should have been to go find him right away.
“And I have to tell you, I called and tried to make contact on Monday, but I am not the head of government,” she revealed. It obviously didn’t go well. God be with the days when Gerry Adams could lift any world leader on the blower. Now only Bono can do that.
‘Meaningful experience’
There is no need for knee-jerk reactions in the middle of the negotiations, the Taoiseach repeated, while emphasizing that he was unhappy with the UK’s “unprecedented” decision to play fast and easy with international law.
And so that no one forgets: “I have experience as a negotiating deputy, quite significant experience.”
But the Sinn Féin leader wasn’t the only one who urged him to get into the British prime minister in their next phone conversation.
“You have to be very clear and very tough on Johnson,” Boyd Barrett told Micheál. This repudiation of Irish protocol represented “a direct snub and insult to you, Taoiseach and the people of this country” and he needed to let the prime minister know that he would not accept it.
The People Before Profit TD said the episode signaled the need for a conversation about ending the partition.
“I think there has never been a better time to make that case when you have such a rotten, rotten Prime Minister like Boris Johnson who embodies the worst of British imperial arrogance” – every “rotten” has been contemptuously hacked by Richard like a cat coughing up a hairball.
But it was Labor’s Alan Kelly (AK47) who had the most to say about Johnson trampling on Ireland and international law. (It must be that Boris, the famous womanizer, has run out of things to ride in England at this stage.)
He made a passionate plea to the Taoiseach to put on the laces for Ireland and go for the prime minister’s hide. Alan was outraged by Johnson’s carefree disregard for the rules and found himself quoting Maggie Thatcher.
“Britain does not renounce the treaties. In fact, doing so would damage our own integrity, as well as international relations, ”he declared.
“And I hope this is the first and last time I have to quote Mrs Thatcher.”
‘Doing the world a favor’
The Labor leader said the Taoiseach would have his full support if he calls the leader of the Conservative party to reserve. “You have to stand up and say this for what it is. This is obviously a critical juncture, but I don’t trust Boris Johnson, ”Kelly told the House, using unprecedented language like Johnson’s carry-on.
The British government needs to be called in and “what will work with Boris Johnson is the biggest impact it has on him nationally.”
call it what it is. “This is not trustworthy. This is not the standard of behavior we expect from a sovereign country, our closest neighbor. This is not the proper way to treat anyone. “
Then he said to a puzzled-looking Micheál: “I think this is a very important moment for you personally, as Taoiseach. You’ve been through a lot in this country since you became the Taoiseach. “This could be, for him,” critically, possibly the most important moment in some way. “
So do it. He left for Ireland.
“And I think you will be doing a favor to everyone and definitely to all of Europe.”
For the moment, Micheál is content to frown upon Sky News and CNN to begin with, and let the EU continue negotiating.
Good luck with that, says the opposition. Say nothing and an emboldened Boris will jump on you.
Put it under pressure!
It is a high risk game. Micheál is biding his time.
Will it be your Stuttgart or your Saipan?
[ad_2]