The Hot Press Interview with Irish Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty

Only six years since she was first elected to Dáil Éireann, Regina Doherty now finds herself in her good mate Leo Varadkar’s first government cabinet. But the Minister for Social Protection certainly wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

“We didn’t have a house and we were living with my aunt,” Regina tells Hot Press in her first major interview since becoming one of the most powerful women in Irish politics. “We got a county council house in Ballymun. We stayed there till I was about 13, maybe 14. We moved then to Cedarwood in Finglas. Somebody like me, who grew up in Ballymun, wouldn’t be your typical Fine Gael supporter.”

As it happens, Regina’s parents were dyed-in-the-wool FG-ers. So much so that, as a young child, Regina thought that she was related to the then Taoiseach, Garret Fitzgerald! “Only because I used to see him so bloody often, between Ard Fheises and traipsing after him to give out election leaflets,” she laughs.

Regina’s mother ran for election in 1979, alongside the future Minister for Justice, Nora Owen. “If you wanted to stay up late in our house,” she recalls, “you had to pretend you wanted to watch Today Tonight. There was a huge interest in current affairs.”

Regina herself was only asked to run by Fine Gael at the last minute when their original candidate dropped out – because she was pregnant with her first child. “I was pregnant on number four, not number one – so I thought they were a bit mad!” she jokes.

Regina may still be pinching herself after being made a Minister back in June, but it’s been a baptism of fire for her. “I’ll have to learn to keep my big mouth shut,” she says. Later, as the man said…

Jason O’Toole: You’re from Cedarwood where Bono grew up…

Regina Doherty: I lived in Cedarwood Drive and he lived in Cedarwood Road. We were around the corner from each other. He was a bit older than me. Himself, Guggi and the lads, they’d be hanging around the road and you’d be walking up like a totally googly teenager thinking, ‘Oh God!’ They had a big impact on our lives. You couldn’t help but love U2 – that wasn’t just because I grew up in Cedarwood.

Did you have a crush on any of U2?

Of course I had a crush on Larry Mullen! He was gorgeous. He still is gorgeous! He was every girl’s dream. The difference between me and other girls was that you were either into Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet – or you were into decent music. You had other women who were mad about the guitar player from Duran Duran – a tall skinny fella with quiff hair – or you had a real man like Larry Mullen. Who was raw. He was a good-looking fella. Still is.

Did you ever chat with Bono?

I don’t think I’ve ever met him. We went to the Self Aid concert, the year after Live Aid. We got talking to The Pogues when we were leaving and they were going to the after-show party. I think I was only 15 – but we managed to get in backstage to the party and met loads of people. But I don’t remember meeting Bono.

What about your other neighbour, Gavin Friday?

When we were kids in the 80s – the good old days when the sun shined during the summertime and you’d be up hanging around on the green – they’d come out and sit down. And they always had these incredible women. Again, I was only 14 or 15: but the women would’ve been fabulously dressed, bohemian style, with long white frocks and stuff. And the lads would’ve been cool. They didn’t live behind closed doors. They came out and they mixed with people. Those were the days when you used to take a trip into town to Windmill Lane and you’d see if you could see anybody, or the usual stuff that teenagers do. I loved U2.

Apart from U2, what type of music did you like?

I grew up on Bowie, Bob Marley, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Cocker, The Doors. I loved Simple Minds. There was a band in Scotland I was mad about for ages called The Blue Nile. I love Fleetwood Mac. I love Steve Nick’s voice. If I’m doing the ironing on a Sunday, that’s what’s on in the kitchen. I got the chance to see them a couple of years ago and they were brilliant. I saw Joe Cocker about 10 years ago and he was absolutely magic. I love live music. I was in a folk group for years. Music is a huge gift.

Wikipedia says you studied at DCU.

No! I don’t know where that came from. I went to the College of Marketing and Design, Mountjoy Square. I was doing marketing and economics. I dropped out after second year.

Why?

Because I had no bloody patience! And I got a job offer. The salary was six grand at the time and that seemed like a small fortune. I decided, ‘I’ll go back when I get older and it’ll be grand’. But that never happened.

Do you regret not finishing your degree?

I decided last year to go back because it was always something in the back of my head that annoyed me. Or maybe that I didn’t have a piece of paper to say that I could start and finish something. A little chip on my shoulder. So, I went back to King’s Inn last September and did a Diploma in Criminology and Regulatory Crime. I’m awaiting my results to see if I get that piece of paper. I might be embarrassed that I went back (laughs).

What’s your take on the shambles of the Sean Fitzpatrick trial.

When you see the ramifications of the ill-preparedness of the office of the ODCE (Office of Directorate of Corporate Enforcement), that really brings home how much responsibility rests on the regulatory bodies. How deficient they are, given the collapse of that trial. It’s something that needs to be looked at very carefully.

Everybody was expecting him to go to prison.

The State would’ve felt that there was a very large case to answer. But it just wasn’t presented in a way that the judge could even allow it to go to a jury. That was a complete failure of the system.

You’d hope they get their act together because the David Drumm case is coming up next.

Absolutely, yeah. I think people would nearly give up on us at that stage if… anyway, I won’t be pre-empting anything.

Growing up, how important was chasing boys and sex for you?

Not hugely. I wasn’t one of these little young wans! Actually, this is mad: I’m only learning how to put make-up on my eyes now from my 15-year-old daughter! I was a real tomboy. I was into sport. I was into music. If I went places it was to listen to music: it wasn’t to chase fellas. I had a boyfriend, but I wasn’t going out mad looking for fellas. And I married very young. So, that was the end of that!

How old were you when you had your first serious boyfriend?

I was about 16. And he was a gorgeous man. We clicked because I was mad about music. He was a DJ in a pirate radio station in Ballymun. And – like the lovesick teenager I used to be – I’d sit at home and listen. Probably about only three people listened to his programme. And then he moved to Wicklow when I was nearly 18. Those were the days before phones – so that was the end of that.

How old were you when you first had sex?

Oh! It would be un-ladylike of me to say! It wasn’t very young. My eldest is only 17, so I’m doing alright. I was a late bloomer!

But you didn’t wait until your wedding night?

No!

How old were you when you met your husband?

I was 23. He worked in a company that I used to sell stuff to. We had a do one night. We went for a few jars and I got talking to him. So, even though I had met him once or twice before, I had never talked to him. He asked me to go out with him the following Friday. And six weeks later he asked me to get married.

Only six weeks!

Yeah. We didn’t get engaged because I thought if I went home to my mother she’d say, ‘You’re off your rocker!’ We started going out in February and we got engaged at Christmas. And we got married the following Christmas. The rest is history.

Did you always want a big family?

No. I don’t know why we have four kids! We never sat down and had a conversation like, ‘Will we have one or two?’ They just kept coming (laughs)! Anyway, we’re definitely finished now.

If you could become Taoiseach tomorrow on the condition that you’d have to give up sex, would you take the deal?

No (laughs)! I’m only a young wan!

How important is sex for you?

I’m only a young wan – so it’s still very important.

What was your personal motivation for running for office?

My oldest child, who’s nearly 18, had been diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome when he was five. I had gone through the whole system, trying to get the resources for him in school. He had behavioural issues, ticks and stuff like that. And then I’d been appointed to the National Parents Council on the special Ed Committee – and it was like banging my head off a brick wall. Mam said to me, ‘Imagine what you could do if you were on the inside as opposed to being on the outside?’

You have a second child with special needs.

I have another son who has dyspraxia. It’s entirely different, but both of them provide their own challenges with regard to learning. With dyspraxia you have problems with either large motor skills or fine motor skills. So, not only do you have difficulty retaining information, you’re probably bold as brass in the class, because you can’t stay still for five seconds.

All of this must’ve been emotionally devastating.

With Jack, it was exhausting, to be honest with you. I hadn’t even heard of Tourette’s before. When you don’t know what you’re dealing with, you’re looking for a needle in a haystack to try and explain a child’s behaviour. We went to Temple Street’s out-patients for about two years. And they helped him greatly. Also, they counselled us. Now I can look back and say, ‘Jaysus! They were trying to put us back together again because we were so frayed at the edges’. But we’re out the other side now and it’s all good. In fairness to Jack, he – I’m loath to say is growing out of it, because you don’t ever grow out of it, but – he hasn’t had any episode in years and is well able to manage things.

Is there much sexism in politics?

I’ve never been treated different because I’m a girl. I’ve never been put down. There was one comment made: a couple of years ago, David Norris said I was talking through my fanny!

He also referred to the Regina Monologues. Were you upset?

There’s nobody going to get upset about it. That’s just David Norris: he’s very eloquent and flowery in use of language. He’s a character.

You recently said you’ve a girl-crush on Clare Daly. Did you blush to see that in black and white?

No, because I mean it! I really do. I really do admire her. She’s deadly. I don’t agree with 90 percent of what she says, but she’s one of the most genuine, hardworking people I know. She is so sincere. I really admire her – and that’s before you get to the bit of where she’s smart, she’s dedicated, she puts her money where her mouth is.

Did she ever bring up girl crush comment with you?

No (laughs). I’m sure that she’s read it, but I don’t think she’d embarrass me like that. I blush very easily.

You made a complaint to the Garda about a blogger. (An American-based academic was cautioned by the Garda when coming through Dublin Airport – JOT.)

I don’t know what to say, other than that I made a complaint to the Guards, maybe about three weeks ago at this stage, because the lady in question has been harassing me for a number of years. It reached a new high when I became Minister for Social Protection – and I just decided I’d had enough. And I felt I had no choice but to go to the Guards.

Why not sue the person in question?

Okay, can I tell you off-the-record, Jason? (The Minister gives me a detailed explanation. It would undoubtedly win the Minister a more sympathetic hearing from the media.)

The blogger in question has written about a failed business venture of yours. Is there anything else you can tell me on the record?

Honest to God, there isn’t anything else to say. I went into Pearse Street a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t spoken to them since. I know they’re getting a hard time on Twitter at the moment, but, sure, it’s no different from what I’m getting. But they’ll do their job. I don’t have the authority to tell anybody what to do.

But is there anything you can tell me on the record about the complaint?

I’d rather not because the only thing the Guards did say to me was that it would be unhelpful if I started talking about it. I’m not trying to be rude. I made the complaint because I felt harassed and I was distressed and intimidated by her. I had no other choice.

Do you think prostitution should be legalised?

Why? If you want sex go to a pub – woo a woman! Buy her flowers. Do what everybody else does. Women are not commodities. We’re not there to be bought and sold. I’m not being smart, but if men think it’s okay to buy sex that speaks volumes.

There was a great documentary on RTÉ, in which a guy with a disability talked about going to a sex worker and described what a wonderful experience it was.

We’re making an exception for a man over and above another man. So, like, because this man has a physical need! You might find an awful ugly fella who’s never going to get his leg over! Is it okay for him too? And it’s not! We’re still commodifying women.

What about a husband taking care of his wife who’s too ill to have sex over a period of many years?

Why should they be allowed visit sex workers? I’m not saying that you have to be celibate for the rest of your life. God forbid if I happen to be in a coma in the morning and my husband had to look after me, I wouldn’t want him not to, you know? But that doesn’t mean he has to go to a brothel. Can you not go down and woo somebody and work her? You know, be normal! Would any of us want our daughter to be a sex worker? The answer is no.

Would you have a problem with a woman of her own volition wanting to work in the sex industry?

I probably still would, because it does commodify the female as a sex tool, as a sex organ. We’re much more than that.

Did you ever try marijuana?

Yes. Once at a Robbie Williams concert in Slane years ago. It made me paranoid! So, that wasn’t a nice experience. I think that probably says more about me than it does about the joint. I wasn’t in a hurry to repeat it.

Are you for legalising marijuana for medicinal purposes?

Yes.

And what about for recreational use?

I don’t know yet, but when you look at the amount of money that’s in the illegal drugs industry it’s certainly something that should be looked at.

Was it not childish of your constituency colleague Helen McEntee to make a formal complaint about you, because you stated that the two of you don’t get on?

It was probably very childish of me to have said it in the first place. Everybody knows that there are constituency rivalries, where a party has more than one TD. That’s perfectly normal. What’s not normal is big mouth Doherty telling you about it! I won’t be saying a stupid thing like that again.

I read that you got a rap on the knuckles for it?

No. If I did, maybe I wasn’t in that day or something!

Did you say sorry to her?

No.

Some say the rivalry between the two families goes back to when you were on Meath Council with her father.

Her father was never on the Council! You can’t believe everything you read, love. Her dad got elected (to Dáil Éireann) in 2005 and I campaigned for him: we walked the streets. I dropped leaflets. I got on terribly well with Shane. But you couldn’t not get on with Shane: he was an affable man. And even if you had a disagreement, he forgot about it half-an-hour later. He was a nice man. We worked well. And then, sure, he passed away a couple of years later.

Were you shocked by his death?

I’ll never forget it. Damien English rang me and I was completely shell-shocked. And then Leo (Varadkar) rang me. It was a horrible time, because he was so young.

Was he depressed?

None of us realised how he was feeling. I know we had gone through the budget a couple of weeks beforehand and he had taken some of the cuts that had to be made very hard. And then there was a gentleman killed in Slane in a car crash and he had taken that very hard. But I don’t think anybody pieced all of these things together to realise just how vulnerable he was feeling. So, it was a big shock.

There was a row when you said you that could see Fine Gael going into coalition with Sinn Féin.

I never said that, right? I did an interview and then the headline is: Shocker Offer From Fine Gael’s Whip! Which was never an offer. I think the question was: would I do business with them? I do business with Sinn Féin every week. I sit on the business committee with Aengus O Snodaigh, who happens to be a decent man. There are really talented and intelligent people in Sinn Féin. And some of the people are very nice. But what they stand over is not something that I could ever tolerate. So, I can recognise intelligence, I can recognise people being able to speak well and debate well. That doesn’t mean I believe in their ideology. As for coalition – whatever about anybody else in Fine Gael – I can 100% guarantee you that I would not go into coalition with Sinn Féin. I’d resign in a flash, before I’d go into coalition with Sinn Féin.

You’re good friends with Mairia Cahill…

Sinn Féin didn’t just turn their back on her – they vilified her. They went out of their way to call her a liar. I just can’t fathom that.

Did Mary Lou McDonald’s attitude surprise you?

The day we had statements on Mairia Cahill (in the Dáil), Mairia was in that day with her cousin Eilis O’Hanlon, sitting up in the gallery. And afterwards I brought her to the smoking area and Mary Lou happened to be there and sneered at her and slagged her! Only I witnessed it myself, I don’t think I would’ve thought it would’ve been possible for it to come out of her mouth.

What do you think about Gerry Adams?

I just think he’s a hypocrite. Plain and simple. He stood up recently to talk about the bombing in Manchester. I mean, you’re looking at him, thinking, ‘Are you for real. Of all the things that you have to pick to talk about today’. It’s breath-taking hypocrisy! Think of how he and Sinn Féin treated Mairia Cahill – and then they stand up and tell you that they care about children’s rights, about women’s rights. They do in their eye. You either walk the walk as well as talk the talk, for me, or you’re just a hypocrite. Notwithstanding the great achievements that he will be lauded with, for his part in the Peace Process, he is a hypocrite. It’s hard to take.

Do you reckon that Paschal Donohoe (pictured) could be a future Fine Gael leader?

I genuinely think he’s one to watch. He’s a fabulous politician. He’s measured. He’s sincere. Paschal has an ability to tell you how tough things are going to be and then make them look relatively easy when he deals with them. He’s incredibly thoughtful.

Why did you support Leo Varadkar for the leadership?

There was a group of us, including Leo and me, in 2007 on our first occasion to run in a General Election and so we all were involved in training, in press conferences. And I stuck up a friendship with him back then. He was very supportive in 2009 when I ran in the local elections and launched my campaign for me in 2011. So, he’s always been there for me. And one of the nice things about him is that he actually listens. So, when I did get elected in 2011, our friendship developed even more. He’s always been very accessible. Now, he doesn’t always do what I ask him, but he always listens. And not just to me but the people around me. And I think that’s hugely important in a leader, particularly when we want to change our organsation which is top down at the moment. And I want it to be bottom up. And so does he. I like him a lot.

What was your reaction to Leo coming away from Downing Street talking about Love Actually? Some people thought it was juvenile.

Didn’t it just show he was just being himself? He’d never been to Number 10. I’ve never been to Number 10. You’ve never been to Number 10. He obviously assumed that it was what it was in the movie – and it isn’t. Do you know what’s weird? We do this whole thing of expecting politicians to be politically correct, straitlaced, navy suit, white shirt – and then we give out about them being boring and reading from scripts and stuff! The man is a normal person. He has a sense of humour. He’s easy on the eye. He’s funny. He cares about people and he tells the truth. I think it’s refreshing that we have somebody that just says it as it is. And if he makes mistakes, then, well and good – but you know there’s no agenda behind it. There’s no spin. He’ll tell you exactly what he thinks. And you’ll have to just take him as you find him, so. And that includes the socks and the running in the Phoenix Park with the French Canadian.

Some people said he was more focused on PR than on the job.

I think how we advanced the relationship between Canada and Ireland – particularly given the CETA negotiations that have been going on for the last 10 years – we did ourselves no end of good. And wasn’t it lovely to see two young, energetic world leaders actually able to strike a bond. What struck me about Trudeau is that he hugs everybody. He’s a guy that obviously isn’t afraid to let people into his own personal space. He has a warmth about him. And his wife is gorgeous. I think it’s nice for us to see our leader on a world leader stage of equal stature: you know, fit, young, robust, intelligent.

It didn’t go down to well with some of the pol corrs.

I think it’s pretty cool. As long as he’s himself and he doesn’t change, I think we’ll be alright.

Were you surprised when Leo came out?

No. I didn’t know, but you know the way you think about these things? I’d be good mates with Vincent Browne. I’d gone for coffee with Vincent about two weeks before Leo came out. And it came up during the course of the conversation. Vincent said, ‘You should tell him!’ I said, ‘I’m not going to tell him! It’s nobody’s place to tell anybody anything’. And then the morning of the radio show, I was on the sidelines of a rugby match – my kids were playing rugby – and Vincent rang me to say, ‘Are you listening?’ (Laughs) I know it was a big thing for him to do it that day, because he didn’t know how people were going to receive him. But this country has changed an awful lot, which is great.

In his own Hot Press interview a few years ago, Leo said he was against the idea of same sex marriage!

Did he really? Why? I wonder was that when he was only trying to figure out his own sexuality. Wow! That’s unusual for a gay person not to want equality – but he does now, obviously.

Do you think Donald Trump is a madman?

I don’t know whether he’s mad. He would worry me because he certainly hasn’t taken to the role in the manner that you’d expect. I think it’s really unhelpful that he tweets. But then I’m only this small little chick in Ireland: he’s not going to be worried about what I think.

What’s your view about repealing the Eighth Amendment?

It definitely should be repealed. Right now, I think there should be allowances made for late deliveries for people who have been diagnosed with fatal foetal abnormalities. There’s no woman or couple should have to go to Birmingham or Manchester or Wales to delivery a baby and bring them home. It should be dealt with in their own country as humanly and as kindly as we possibly can.

And what about abortion in other cases?

In regards to rape or incest, again, it’s a no brainer for me. I would never even question a woman who didn’t want to carry a baby that’s a result of an act of violence against a woman. The other ones I’m not sure. I’ll be called an anti-feminist for this: I have a huge faith and my beliefs are on the basis of faith. I believe in a God. I believe that he’s part of our creation. I don’t think it’s okay without having an extremely good reason to terminate a life. And I believe that life begins at conception. But that’s for me. Now, I’m troubled in my head that just because I believe that, whether it’s okay for me to force that on you – that’s where I’m at a sticky wicket with regard to having free and safe and legal abortions for women who present, regardless of their reason. I haven’t 100 percent determined my view on that.

So, you’re open to persuasion?

I think the report back from the Eighth Amendment committee will be very interesting. It’ll give us a real opportunity to tease those issues out. And maybe my views will be changed. Because, to be honest, when I came to Leinster House in the first instance, I would’ve told you, ‘No way, Jose! Not in any circumstances. And that’s the end of it’. My views have changed. So, maybe they’ll change even further.

You describe yourself as religious – but the Church doesn’t believe in abortion under any circumstances, including rape or incest.

Yeah. But just because I said I was religious doesn’t mean that I agree with everything that the Church says. Religion is a very personal thing. The relationship that I have, and my faith, is not with the Church – it’s with God. So, there’s a bucket load of stuff that I don’t believe that the Church will tell you – buckets and buckets.

Do you think that the Church collection should be taxed?

Actually, it probably should be.

Do you think the Angelus should be scrapped?

Yes, I think it should be scrapped.

And what about the Dáil prayer?

Jesus! What a mess. We shouldn’t have a Dáil prayer. I certainly think we should have a reflection at the beginning. I’m in the minority. And so now we have a Dáil prayer and a reflection, which is… anyway, there you go!

Did the Church get off lightly on the payments in relation to child sex abuse?

I think that issue is far from resolved. The Church is one of the wealthiest organisations in the world and how it dealt with of children who had been sexually abused at the hands of people within the Church has been nothing but horrendous.

What can be done?

I think it’s probably too late to do anything with regards to those negotiations now. The money that was agreed with religious orders is agreed and obviously some of it is still outstanding – so it still needs to be collected.

But in your view it wasn’t enough?

I really don’t think it was. And for me, it was around that time – now this is probably going to sound silly – but it was around that time that I stopped putting money in the basket. I give my kids coins to put money in the basket at the moment just to teach them the value of giving. And I stopped: I would’ve always given money to the Church up until that point – but no way now. Not a chance.

The Church has a huge land-bank – would it not be good idea to requisition a lot of that?

We have a serious homeless crisis so I would love to be able to say yes. The problem is that in the Constitution in this country, your property rights are as intrinsic as others rights – so, we can’t just come along and take from religious orders. But whoever negotiated and why ever they did the deal they did, I think we completely let them off the hook. Actually, in a wider sense, I don’t think we know a fraction of the abuse that was perpetrated – and by lay people too.

Do you believe in heaven and hell?

I do. Are you going to ask me now a question: if I see myself with a load of big fancy wings on the back of me?

Well, what is heaven?
Just contentment and happiness. I really can’t contemplate that there is nothing. Like, the idea that youwould go through this for 80 years and then there’d just be nothing? Jesus! I can’t imagine that. There has to be something else afterwards. For me, heaven would just be somewhere that (you go) after one life of learning lessons, or maybe loads of lives learning lessons. Because I don’t rule out the possibility that I could come back as something else.

You believe in reincarnation?

I don’t rule it out. I don’t think that you can, in one life, learn every lesson that could be possibly be learnt on this planet. There’s so much that people aren’t even aware of. Like, you’ve read stories about how people recall other lives in their heads through déjà vu or stuff like that. I don’t think that’s impossible: that you could have had four lives, or you could have potential different lives afterwards and come back as somebody else or something else.

What about hell?

Hell for me is something that could be insufferable, intolerable, you know? I don’t view it as fire and brimstone, and you’re cast away. You’d like to think that any stage of your life that you can be forgiven for bad choices that you’ve made. There are some people that are just unforgivable. You would have to think that they would be deprived of going to heaven and this fabulous, wonderful experience of just being felicitated and happy – albeit that you mightn’t have a physical body or wings, or whatever.

It would hardly be just, if child abusers or IRA/UVF bombers were afforded the luxury of reincarnation or could go to heaven.

No.

Would you see a difference between the IRA and ISIS?

Terrorism is terrorism. I love the way Sinn Féin have tried in the last number of weeks to say that they deplore the actions of the London bomber, the London Bridge incident, the Manchester bomber – they did exactly the same themselves! I’ve actually heard a Shinner say the other day, ‘Oh, no! We didn’t because we gave warnings’. Get up the yard! Exactly the same result happened: people were killed, maimed, lives destroyed – for what? You can’t justify it under any circumstances.

Martin McGuinness got a lot of plaudits when he passed away. Was he a terrorist?

He became the soft face of the IRA because he was honest. But, actually, he wasn’t honest: he told you a little snippet that allowed him to say that he wasn’t a liar. He was probably one of the most ruthless people involved in the IRA. Yet people have forgotten that, or maybe have forgiven him because of his instrumental activities involved in bringing about peace. But there’s a fine line of where the forgiveness starts and the forgetting ends.

Would you be in favour of euthanasia?

If you asked me this question a year ago I would’ve said no, right? And, again, nobody has the right to take away a life – except you-know-who, right? But my Mam said to me if she was ever in such a scenario that there’s no way that she’d want to stick around. And I said to her, ‘Really?’ And you start to think about it. We should have autonomy over our own lives and we should have the ability to be able to determine how we die. I think we should have the debate.

Minister John Halligan said during a Hot Press Interview that he wants to introduce a Bill on euthanasia.

I’ve done my level best to try and help John bring his Bill forward. There’s some mad rule that says if you’re a Minister, you can only bring in a piece of legislation with regard to your own portfolio. The Bill can’t be in his name! So, we’ve been trying to find creative ways of getting it to the floor of the House. If he gave the Bill to any of our – or his – backbenchers I could bring it to the floor of the House under Opposition time or under Private Members time. I just can’t bring it under government time because it’s not a Government Bill. That’s the difficulty.

Have you plans for your new Department?

I’m like a child in a sweetshop because there’s so much I can do and I’m just afraid that I won’t get enough time to do it all. I want to look after carers. I want to look after older people. And I don’t just mean giving you a fiver – that’s easy stuff. I want to change policy so that we encourage people to start saving for their own pensions.

I want to look at the education we give people through activation courses – to give people real valuable education and training skills, so that they can actually get jobs. Look at the people who are in real disadvantage to find out why people are long-term unemployed and see what we can do to shake that up and help them. But there’s so much to do. It’s an enormous department. And I’m enjoying it. And it’s cool.

Is it sexist to presume God’s a man?

I don’t think he’s either! I don’t think he’s a man or a woman. He’s much bigger than that. And I think it’s more on a consciousness level than an actual physical form.

What do you think about the possibility of aliens?

(Laughs) Jesus! I suppose, why not (laughs)? I haven’t met any green creatures. But we live on this vast, planet, which is actually tiny in comparison to the rest of the universe. So – Jaysus! – anything is possible.