Not a week seems to go without some political controversy or other hitting our headlines and this week is no different.
Speaking to the Kilkenny Advertiser on Wednesday, Deputy John McGuinness called on the Taoiseach to step down following what he termed was an ‘unimaginative cabinet reshuffle’. Once again John McGuinness is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. It would have been good for the constituency to have been writing this column and congratulating Deputy McGuinness on the return of his junior ministerial role or even better, on him gaining a full senior ministry - however, this was never going to be the case.
Deputy McGuinness makes no bones about his lack of faith in the current Taoiseach and this is not his first time speaking out about Mr Cowen and his party in a negative manner. He clearly doesn’t believe in keeping his friends close and his enemies closer as most politicians do.
Deputy McGuinness is Kilkenny’s poll-topping politician - yet he is not adored so much in Leinster House. How does this work for Kilkenny people who vote for him? They want him to have a voice at a senior level in cabinet but the reality is that this will never happen under the current leader. There is no love lost between the two and as regards Cowen’s methods of running the country - well never the twain shall meet.
But how long will we have to wait to have representation at senior cabinet level? Until Fine Gael gets into power and Phil Hogan is elevated? This might happen under the rule of Enda Kenny but would it be so likely under Richard Bruton? And also will Enda keep his position as leader if Fine Gael get into government.
Senator John Paul Phelan is another hopeful for Fine Gael and he will certainly be hoping to make his way up the ranks to a TD in the next general elections and this time, the young Senator should definitely make the cut following his narrow miss to Mary White last time out.
Then to our Fianna Fail TDs - Bobby is an aul pal of Mr Cowens but if so why hasn’t he secured a junior ministry before now? Is there a reason for not being chosen? MJ Nolan gets the votes in Carlow but is that because there are no other real contenders at this stage for Fianna Fail there?
So really the chances of Kilkenny gaining senior ministerial positions in the near future are pretty slim.
We should be grateful that Mary White (who is from Carlow ) has been successful for the constituency I guess, but we can’t be scolded for wanting one of our own county’s TDs in there too. Everyone knows the importance of ministerial representation in the improvement of a county. Kilkenny has certainly not benefited to date - maybe all this will change with Mary White’s promotion or maybe there will more upheavals in our seemingly very unstable government in coming months and we will see a complete revolution. Maybe this is what is needed....
