There would be more than a little irony in it if the Government got itself evicted from office this week because of its stubborn stance on the evictions ban.

First off, it is unlikely the Coalition will lose this week’s motion of no confidence in it being tabled by Labour.

That’s because if the numbers from last week’s motion from Sinn Féin calling for the ending of the ban to be rescinded, 83 to 68, is anything to go by, they should be safe.

But, it is possible.

The more interesting part of it is though, how wrong the mood was read by the Government’s Three Wise Men, Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader, Leo Varadkar, Fiann Fáil chief and Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, and Greens head honcho, Eamon Ryan.

The Magi definitely didn’t have the old Eamon de Valera trick where he could apparently look into his heart and see what the people of the country were thinking.

They didn’t even do Enda Kenny’s version when he was the Boss of talking to the man with the two pints because you wouldn’t find a man or woman in any pub in the country that agreed with their wild decision.

Because if they did, they would have seen a nation that was dead set against the ban being sent to the dustbin.

Isn’t it funny that every organisation, political party and campaign group with a vested interest in this issue were against scrapping the ban, except the landlords’ lobby.

Unsurprisingly, the Irish Property Owners Association described it as “highly discriminatory against landlords,” they would, wouldn’t they.

And anecdotally, every man on the street, or the man with two pints, was in favour of keeping the ban going for another while.

The main logical reason being that the Government and Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien have done diddly squat since the ban came in to put supports in place for the evicted once it ended.

And here we are now, it is truly frightening to think that there are at least 5,000 eviction notices ready to go.

They’re backed up in the system since the ban was introduced last October and will become live again on Saturday when the evictions ban lapses.

I say at least 5,000 because the RTB has only released the stats for the third quarter of 2022 and that showed 4,741 up to the end of September, before the ban was even introduced

There is no doubt that the numbers continued to pile on after the ban was introduced at the end of October.

The word tsunami has been used but after the numbers for Q1 saw 1,132, Q2 had 1,666 and Q3 brought us up towards 5,000, it’s say enough to say there’s at least a deluge on the way.

Finally, here’s the actual wording for Labour’s motion this week: “That Dáil Éireann notes that the Government by its refusal to extend the ban on evictions has made a deliberate and conscious decision to expose thousands of people to the risk of immediate homelessness and resolves that it has no confidence in the Government.”

It sounds grim and that’s because it could herald the arrival of the grim reaper on Kildare Street for this Government if the motion succeeds.

Soccer-mad TD to take to the stage

Politicians are often accused of dramatics, but we might soon have one that takes that to another level by treading the boards of a real theatre.

Labour’s Dubs-mad and Irish soccer fanatic, Aodhán O’Riordáin, made some waves some years back in 2019 when he started an Irish football history walking tour through the streets of Dublin.

He was joined by Gary Cooke, the comedian and actor who will forever be known for his cracking impersonations of Eamon Dunphy when Apres Match was banging in the goals back in the day.

The walk featured stops at such historic Irish soccer sites as Dalymount Park and Tolka Park and it also veered near the birthplace of Eamon Dunphy in Drumcondra, giving Gary the perfect opportunity to lapse back into his most famous caricature.

Now the word in Leinster House is that Gary is thinking of adapting the tour for the stage and some in Labour have said that Aodhán could be in line for a part in the professional production, so he can no longer be accused of amateur dramatics.

Posh Dems and the Blueshirts on Bikes

Every political party worth its salt has a nickname, but with us being Irish, it’s rare that you like the clever moniker you’ve been given, but you just get on with it.

Everybody uses shorthand names for political parties here and there’s no real harm meant, regardless of any historical context or sly dig they might have once wielded.

Some are good, some lazy and others just a bit boring.

I mean, there has to be a more creative one for members of Fianna Fáil than just Fianna Fáilers.

One or two of the more pompous Fianna Fáilers - there’s still plenty of them - would like you to think that their nickname is Soldiers of Destiny, it’s not, that’s just a rough translation of their name, and nobody uses it anyway.

Then there’s the Blueshirts, which some people nowadays probably don’t even know the origins of as the once derogatory term is nearly 100 years old now.

It relates to one of the more embarrassing episodes in Fine Gael’s history when they had their own version of Mussolini’s Blackshirts, but donned in blue instead.

Sinn Féin’s nickname lacks imagination too, the Shinners.

Which brings us to the two latest nicknames doing the rounds in more recent times, the first which may only be a few weeks or months old.

The Social Democrats, or Soc Dems, have been branded with the nickname the Posh Dems, and you could say the glove definitely fits there.

Finally, another one that members of the party mightn’t like is what the Greens have been labelled since they entered an unholy alliance with Fine Gael in Government.

They’ve been damned as guilty by association and are regularly pilloried as nothing more than Blueshirts on Bikes - on yer bike Eamon Ryan.

Quote of the Week

“There is no circumstance, regardless of gender, where anybody should be at risk of violence in a prison,” Justice Minister Simon Harris after concerns were raised about placing violent transgender woman Barbie Kardashian in a female prison.

ENDS