As I reflect on the performance of the Government over the past few months, I feel awash with disappointment. A foreigner reading the newspapers with party and names blacked out would hardly know the Government has changed.
The latest failures of Ministers such as Phil Hogan (what of the seven children he wished to condemn to the halting site?) and James Reilly (pulling such an obvious stroke, blatantly lying about it and then incompetently covering it up) are depressing and maddening.
But what is even worse is the Government backbenchers. I’ve watched politician after politician from the Government parties asked about these failures of character and every one of them have uttered some mealy-mouthed claptrap nonsense to weasel around the question rather than just calling a spade a spade. All too interested in keeping their nose clean to enrich themselves with some committee or future ministerial position rather than being a good, decent honest politician loyal to the people who elected them in the first place.
Should we have expected anything different? Maybe not. But we changed the Government to promises of a better way. Maybe we shouldn’t expect it, but we sure as hell should demand it.
Extended Version
The country as a whole rejoiced at the last general election when Fiannia Fáil were returned to the wilderness of opposition. After fifteen years in Government, their TDs and Ministers had become all too used to the trappings of power. And in the last decade they presided over a boom and budget after budget that dropped the country into its worst ever depression. All the while lining their own pockets.
We looked at a new Fine Gael / Labour coalition with much hope and optimism. But we weren’t and aren’t idiots – we didn’t expect them to change the country overnight. We all know that we’re in for a long hard slog. We did however expect them to be different from the cronies that went before them. We expected that in a time of great depression, we could look at a new Government that would forgo the trappings of power, leave Parish pump politics to the local councilors – we expected a group of people who would put the common good of the Country as a whole first.
As I reflect on the performance of the Government over the past few months, I feel awash with disappointment. A foreigner reading the newspapers with party and names blacked out would hardly know the Government has changed. Two recent key examples stand out more than others:
- Phil Hogan: Put aside the complete blunder that he made of the household charge and continues to make with the septic tank registrations; just this week we learned that he assured objectors that a Traveller family would not receive a house they were in line to be allocated and intervened with the local council to try and fulfill this promise. Never mind that his Ministerial office includes responsibility for housing and community – what of the seven children that would have been condemned to the halting site had he been successful? What of the children, Big Phil? So much for Frances Fitzgerald’s promises of “children first” with this Government.
- James Reilly: I had high hopes and was willing to give Reilly a lot of latitude to try and sort out the mess of the HSE and the health system. But then he pulls one of the most obvious political Parish pump strokes yet and jumps a town in his constituency about 100 places up a list to get a primary care centre. 100 places! He denies it’s a stroke, takes a week to come up with some feeble excuse which is then discredited by a three month old FOI by the Irish Times. Pulling strokes, blatantly lying about it and then incompetently covering it up. His tenure is of course littered with disasters, this just being the latest of many.
Neither of these men deserve a place in cabinet – if even Dáil Eireann. But Enda Kenny owes them both dearly for the part they played in the pathetic coup attempt by other incompetents two years ago. More old fashioned clique politics – who cares if someone is completely ill-suited to Ministerial position; just as long as they have played ball and have served their time.
While the above angers me deeply, what is even worse is the Government backbenchers. I’ve watched politician after politician from the Government parties asked about James Reilly’s stroke-pulling and every one of them have uttered some mealy-mouthed claptrap nonsense to weasel around the question rather than just calling a spade a spade. All too interested in keeping their nose clean to enrich themselves with some committee or future ministerial position rather than being a good, decent honest politician loyal to the people who elected them in the first place.
Should we have expected anything different? Maybe not. But we changed the Government to promises of a better way. Maybe we shouldn’t expect it, but we sure as hell should demand it.
