“We never thought we’d miss you so much.”
Aah, but they did.
Someone had to say something to staunch the soppiness.
Let’s face it, it wouldn’t have been a good look to mark Richard Boyd Barrett’s return to the Dáil after getting the all-clear from cancer by having him die of embarrassment on his first day back in the chamber.
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After all the warm applause and with deputies still smiling over this happy outcome, Michael Healy-Rae interjected with a little tongue-in-cheek levity, allowing the Ceann Comhairle to gently steer business back to the normal hostilities.
Everyone was delighted see RBB back in his usual place among his socialist comrades, eight months after taking leave to have treatment for throat cancer.
The People Before Profit TD for Dún Laoghaire is returning on a phased basis and, by the sounds of it, so is his famous foghorn delivery.
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy was delighted to welcome him back, even if he can be one of her more difficult charges.
“And to be fair, deputy, everybody is absolutely thrilled to hear that your treatment went well. And you’re looking so well.”
Not strictly accurate.
Richard was looking morto.
“Maybe you’re somewhat quieter. We’ll have to judge that as we go,” laughed Verona, with the look of a woman who is not expecting a particularly long honeymoon period in this respect.
With the Taoiseach away, Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald sent in one of her boys to deal with whoever was standing in for him. The leader of the main opposition party wasn’t going to give Micheál Martin’s second-in-command her precious time for two days in a row.
David Cullinane deputised for her on Wednesday. And like every other person who spoke during Leaders’ Questions, the first thing he did was welcome RBB.
“It’s great news.”
Micheál’s super-sub, Jack Chambers, joined the congeniality chorus.
“It’s wonderful to see you back, healthy and well,” said the Minister for Public Expenditure, highlighting Richard’s “enormous candour and bravery” in speaking publicly about his illness, something which will have helped a lot of people who are experiencing cancer in their own lives or that of a loved one.
RBB nodded modestly.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik has suffered more than most from Boyd Barrett’s booming contributions.
“I never thought I’d say this,” she began, turning to face the veteran ear-basher, “but I’ve missed your voice in my left ear across the aisle.”
He gave a bashful smile.
Could things get any better?
They certainly could for those in the House of a leftist persuasion.
Ivana was keen “to acknowledge the wonderful election victories in the US overnight” and, in particular, Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York “proving that voters want a message of hope”.
Despite the genuinely happy vibes for RBB, the session served up the standard dispiriting back and forth over the cost-of-living crisis (Cullinane) and the housing crisis (Bacik).
If groundhogs had Groundhog Days, they would exist perpetually in the hamster wheel of Leaders’ Questions.
Holly Cairns, the Social Democrats leader, did her best to switch things up by introducing a fresh topic while sticking to the theme of how bad things are under the Coalition.
First, she had a big Soc Dems welcome for Richard. “It’s really great to see you back.”
More embarrassed smiles from RBB.
Then she turned her attention to Chambers of Commerce.
It was a low-key opening for Holly.
There must have been some worrying times during his cancer treatment
“Minister, we are hurtling towards a catastrophe!”
She didn’t have to tell that to Jack. He was well aware that the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting would be taking place later on in the evening.
Holly was talking about climate change. Plans to limit global warming have failed as temperatures continue to rise.
“This is an existential threat to our very existence on this planet.”
It’s very worrying.
Minister Chambers shared her concern.
But with all the work being done at Cop30 in Brazil (including by the Taoiseach) and all the work taking place at EU level, it isn’t all doom and gloom.
Actually, said Jack, in an effort to lift the existential gloom, one only has to “look at the work” Environment and Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien has done with his recent budget allocation and marvel at the amount of funding he has secured for his department.
Darragh is “all about trying to accelerate Ireland’s energy transition and to underpin our journey to a net-zero future”.
Holly was deeply underwhelmed.
“I feel like I may be talking to the wall.”
Whatever about talking to the wall, there must have been some worrying times during his cancer treatment when Richard Boyd Barrett wondered if he would ever be talking to the Dáil.
But here he was, a bit leaner and with a huskier voice, rising to take the People Before Profit slot at Leaders’ Questions.
“It’s good to be back. And particularly good to be back in the aftermath of the successful campaign of Catherine Connolly,” he said, congratulating his fellow left-winger on her election as president.
The joyful news didn’t stop there.
“It’s also good to be back on the day that a socialist gets elected in New York: signs of hope and portents of the future.”
The significance was not lost on his PBP colleague Ruth Coppinger. She also lauded “the election of a socialist in New York – you know, the belly of the beast of capitalism”.
When his turn came to speak, Richard thanked everyone, inside and outside Leinster House, for their kind words and messages before, during and after his treatment.
“My biggest debt of gratitude is to the fantastic people who work in our health services, particularly the cancer services – in my case, St Luke’s hospital.”
After the welter of warm welcomes, those last five words struck a chord
Their expertise saved him.
Now, he was using his skill as a parliamentarian to help them.
Dáil Éireann is no stranger to stories of shortcomings in specific areas of the health service. Individual case histories are frequently used to highlight to the Government how the suffering of many can be alleviated with obvious actions.
But what happened in the Dáil on Wednesday was different.
This time, the case history belonged to one of their own.
Deputy Boyd Barrett was that patient.
They listened.
He told how he was treated with a high-tech radiation machine. Every year, around half of the people who get a cancer diagnosis need them.
“They are called linear accelerators. They, as well as the staff, infrastructure and so on, have given me my life back.”
After the welter of warm welcomes, those last five words struck a chord.
Those machines should be replaced every 10 years but, “fairly incredibly”, some 35 per cent are nudging towards the 17-year mark while 40 per cent will have to be replaced in the next five years.
Oncologists keep asking for a centralised, national replacement programme “so they don’t have to come each year with a begging bowl for money to provide this absolutely vital machinery to save lives”.
Richard Boyd Barrett brought their request to the floor of the Dáil.
The living proof.
Jack Chambers promised he will bring the issue to the attention of the Minister for Health. He said it twice.
One suspects that the very proactive Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, RBB’s constituency colleague, is on the case.
