It’s been a colourful week in politics one has to say.
With me being of Limerick ilk, it was somewhat sad to hear of the demise of the PD party last night. However, it was hardly surprising and was ultimately inevitable.
For a long time, I believed that the PDs were being good enough watch-dogs and I felt once there was an alternative keeping an eye on the big shots, there might be some transparency. And I think this did happen in the Dessie O’ Malley days.
There are many PD councillors out there who were dedicated to the PD cause for a long time, and I think the sole remaining member in Carlow and Kilkenny, Walter Lacey is one of those people. So much so that he has decided to run as an independent in the forthcoming local elections as opposed to running over to Fianna Fáil which many of his colleagues have pledged to do and have already done. Walter believes that he is an out-and-out PD, and pledging himself to Fianna Fáil would be straying too far from his political beliefs. It’s not often that we hear of someone taking the more difficult route but he is standing up for what he believes in.
More political fun and games were provided by our own Fianna Fáil junior minister this week. Not shy of a bit of controversy, John McGuinnesss once again stuck in his oar and had a go at the public service and state jobs. Now I think many of the ordinary employees in the world think that the junior minister was dead right. There are lots of people in private companies out there who do not have the benefits that public servants have, such as fully paid maternity leave, sick leave, several week’s holidays, options to job-share - I could go on. And to those people it does appear somewhat unfair that although they do a similar job they don’t have the same benefits.
However, others who are looking at the bigger picture might think that John McGuinness should close his mouth and be a bit more of a party man if he ever wants to see the senior ministerial title at his office door. There is a lot to be said for brown-nosing when it comes to finally getting what you want. Many of us won’t do it of course, but there are those who will and who may win out in the end. The bottom line is this. If a senior minister is not appointed in Carlow Kilkenny in the forseeable future, we may as well throw our hat at it. You can see in our neighbouring county of Waterford what the ministery has brought to the city and county. Massive inward investment, good roads and a new corridor linking the city with Dublin ( don’t be deluded thinking that the N9 was being built for Carlow -Kilkenny citizens! ). So at the end of the day is John McGuinness doing the county any favours by standing up for what he personally believes to be true? Is he really jeopardising his future which could be in a senior ministerial role, by being anti-government. He is seen by many as being non-compliant and therefore will Kilkenny ever see the golden plate with Senior Minister engraved on it ? Unless Fine Gael get into power in the near future and we see our two Fine Gael Oireachtas members climbing up the ranks - which is also a possibility of course.
Brian Cowen distanced himself from John McGuinnesses’ remarks and the unions are up in arms as they should be as he tore strips off them. The opposition are laughing as they claim that the public service is top heavy with highly-paid adminstrators as a result of the current government and Fianna Fáil doesn’t quite know what to say.
Never one to be stuck for words and generally always available to answer a query, John Mc Guinness claims that he is elected to represent the people and to do that, he needs to have his voice heard. You can’t argue with that - but what are the long-term effects, one has to wonder....
