My mother had an expression uttered each time she saw a pram which went “there’s last year’s fun on wheels.” Well, last night at the publication of the Four Year Plan, we got the bill for the fun that was had by many, though not all in the first seven years of this century. And like a bill in a restaurant when you peruse the columns to make sure you haven’t been charged for something you didn’t order, there are a lot of people in this country this morning who will be mnystified why they have to foot the bill for a party to which they were not invited.
Watching Batt O’Keeffe on Prime Time on Tuesday night, and Tony Killeen on The Front Line the night before, I was shocked, though not surprised, at the poor grasp that they both had on reality, never mind their brief, and the arrogance they displayed (and forever encapsulated in the images of Ahern and Dempsey shaking their heads like children’s TV presenters ) shows that Fianna Fail just don’t give a damn any more. Like a drunk at a party, they want to get the last swig out of the bottle and decide when they are to be ejected from the premises. And ejected they will be when they go to the polls in the springtime. And the Greens with them. While most people like to have some form of green (with a small g ) policies in their heads, the behaviour of this party and the posturing and twittering of their unelected and un-mandated senators in particular have put a lot of people off them and they too will surely face meltdown in springtime.
And so what are we left with? And how do we know that the next bunch will be any better? What guarantees do we have that they too won’t become intoxicated on the fumes of power that sift through the coccoon of Leinster House. One would like to think that they can never be as bad as the group we have in, but you only have to read Animal Farm or follow the travails of New Labour to know that what seems shiny and appealing at first, will, if left unpolished over time, become tarnished with power and corruption.
How do we make Government more accountable? By threatening to vote them out only to be placated with the promise of a new footpath or lamp-post or Lottery grant. Those parties which espouse major political reform should also pledge to step down if they have not achieved it by a certain time, because without reform, the entire problem can happen again in a generation’s time. Now is perhaps a once in a lifetime chance to fix things, to make government controllable, to shed our image as a corrupt alcohol- fuelled nation, all stereotypes that have been accentiated by Fianna Fail, the party which fooled itself into believing it was making us modern and respected.
So is there hope? Of course there is, as it should also not be forgotten that we are still a very comfortable country and that there is no need for total despair.
In a year’s time, we will still be getting up in the morning, having one dinner each day, sleeping in the one bed at night. Contrary to what we may have been led to believe, no IMF or EU bailout/intervention has ever caused the sky to fall in. And even if it did, there’s plenty more sky to enjoy.
We live in a beautiful part of the country. We are an energetic creative people who are frustrated and annoyed to have been led down such an alleyway. ‘Twas far from lattes we were reared and if we have to do without them, then so what. At least now, unlike in the eighties, we know what they are and we can tell our grandchildren one days that in golden times, we used to enjoy them. It is unfortunate that this current bleakness comes at the darkest time of the year. Come the new year and the Spring, we can look forward to a new Ireland, hopefully led by new people.
