Insider understands the job of opposition politicians: it is to make you feel miserable. Their thinking is as follows; no matter what condition the country is in, we must give the impression that things are a lot worse than they are, and if we can convince enough people that the country is ‘gone to hell in a handcart’, then we can pick up some extra votes which will help us at the next election.
Therefore, when you hear, see or read members of the opposition, they hope you will feel worse afterwards: mission accomplished in their view. This approach extends beyond their attempts to manipulate both broadcast and print media, it becomes all consuming for them. Take the recent ‘Raise the Roof’ march in Dublin: it is all part of the attempt to create disruption and sow seeds of discontent which will make voters think ‘we can do better than this’.
It reminds Insider of a man who ran a number of times for election to his local authority, without success. As time went on he became more desperate, and organised or was involved in every protest, march and objection that took place in the area. Eventually he made in on to the local authority, and guess what? Yes, the protests, marches and objections disappeared overnight, and as a very wise local man said, ‘by just electing him, we solved all our problems’.
National Media
The most disappointing aspect of recent political developments is the role played by the national media. Look at the sample of the headlines spread throughout this piece. It is the lack of balance in both our print and broadcast media that should be most concerning for people. Insider knows we have problems in this country, and some are taking longer than is acceptable to rectify, but Insider also knows that this is a great country, with many positive aspects to life here.
You are far more likely to get a well informed and balanced view from The Advertiser or The Tribune than from any national media organisation. There are still a few honourable exceptions but their voices are increasingly being drowned out by lazy journalists who are just taking the PR statement from the political party and presenting it as news.
Or even worse, the statement is being fed to a ‘plant’ or ‘mole’ in the media organisation who then manages to get it in to the headlines. The next time you hear on a news bulletin, ‘In answer to a parliamentary question…’, you can be sure what follows will be a negative news story and you should ask yourself why the media organisation is running something that should be confined to a specific political party’s website, and how they are allowing themselves to be used for such propaganda purposes. Maybe it saves the work involved in having to source a news story themselves, or maybe they are following a specific agenda.
Copying Social Media
Another disappointing aspect of this approach is the way in which traditional media organisations are now following the ’standards’ set by social media companies. The more controversial and the more negative the content is, the greater the reaction seems to be on social media. Traditionally reputable broadcasters and print media are falling into this trap, and again this is contributing to the lack of balance and the increasingly negative narrative.
The best, and worst, thing about social media is that everyone can have their say. The problem is it gives the ignorant, abusive and ill-informed as much space (they usually take up far more ) as the well informed and the intelligent. Insider steers well clear of this and would advise others to do likewise. There is a serious issue here relating to increasing levels of mental health problems and depression, and from a personal point of view, Insider finds life far more relaxing when social media is ignored, and the dial is switched from RTE and Newstalk to Lyric FM.
Stories you may not have read or heard
Sticking to the theme of balance, Insider has decided to list a few brief stories which you may not have come across, as they actually reflect well on the country.
“Ireland is one of the few European countries to have experienced broad-based growth over the past three decades.
Disposable incomes rose by more for lower-income than higher-income people, leading to big declines in income inequality between 1987 and 2019.”—————
Ireland is second only to Norway on a United Nations annual ranking of 189 countries measured according to average longevity, education and income.
The measure puts Ireland ahead of countries including Germany (6 ), Sweden (7 ), Australia (8 ), and the UK (13 ), and is a stark improvement compared with when the country was assessed when the index was first drawn up in 1990.
Ireland ranks highly on the list of the best countries in the world to relocate to according to a new report.
The study ranked the countries by creating an index score based on variables such as passport strength, migrant population, and Human Development Index (HDI ) -- which examines life expectancy, average years of education, expected years of education, and income per capita to determine standard of living.
Ireland Ranks High for Higher Education – A new study has ranked Ireland as fifth in the world for higher education.
The survey scored each country according to a range of factors, including Quality of Education, Cost of Living as a Student, Graduate Career Prospects, Student Diversity, Social Life, and Arts & Culture. Scores awarded for each category were then used to determine the overall rankings of each country.
The scores put Ireland fifth in the rankings for the best countries in the world for higher education.
Ireland came out top of the list of the top 3 countries in the world for Arts & Culture followed by Germany and United States.
For the first time in Ireland the number of patients living after an invasive cancer diagnosis has exceeded the 200,000 mark.
The figure equates to a more than a 50 per cent increase in the numbers of cancer survivors compared with a decade ago.
Population Growth
One of the best measures of a country’s economic performance is its population growth and emigration and migration figures. This country has had remarkable levels of population growth over the last decade. The population in every county increased between Census 2016 and Census 2022. A combination of a natural increase, immigration and migration gave a population growth of 88,800 in the year to April 2022.
Since the 2011 census, the population has grown by over 540,000 people, that is almost equal to the entire population of Connacht. Why are so many coming to live here? Is it because this is such an unattractive country to live in?
Holding the centre ground
Insider is disappointed by the failure of our government parties to articulate the positive aspects of life in Ireland, and how well the country is doing under a broad range of criteria. Recent opinion polls have shown a shift back towards support for the Government, and Insider expects this trend to continue, and gives the present government a very strong chance of being re-elected in 2024/25.
In the coming weeks Insider will offer advice to all the political parties on how best to increase their levels of support, and the pitfalls which may await them. Some of the more excitable commentators and analysts already think the next election is a done deal, and that existing polls tell us what the final results will be. They could not be more wrong.
In October 2020, Fine Gael had 37% support in one poll, and were regularly achieving figures in the mid 30s around this time. Sinn Fein support levels were of the order of 25%. These positions have now reversed, but the two most recent monthly Red C polls in The Sunday Business Post showed the gap in support between SF and FG decreasing from 14% to 7%.
And who will forget the predicted ‘Gilmore Gale’, when Labour party support levels were at 33% just eight months before the 2011 election, at which the party’s actual vote was 18%. The really serious questions have yet to be asked of all parties, Sinn Fein in particular, and Insider expects the results of the next election to vary considerably from the existing polls.
In the coming weeks, Insider will also look at the state of the political parties, and their prospects in Galway for the next election, expected in the summer of 2024 or early 2025.
