As the entire house of cards collapses around our very ears the masks are finally beginning to slip. It’s the little things that catch you out and so it is that a select few improper utterances this week, from those who should know better have proved extremely revealing — showing that not only is the national bailout causing us to unravel entirely but that the bamboozling four-year austerity plan (the so-called National Recovery Plan ) simply has us stumped.
Back to the breakdowns. First up we had Government Minister Éamon Ó Cuív recommending prayer as the way out of our miseries. “Yes, prayer is very powerful,” he reiterated in a radio interview when pushed to expand on the theme, after which he really hadn't much else to say.
As a strongly Catholic nation, of course the Minister is correct that prayer has buoyed us up through hardships and miseries over the years. Our faith is indeed what we turn to in times of loss, bereavement, and uncertainty and for those who have found it sorely tested in recent times and whose cares may be weighed down by matters not insubstantial — such as the sell-out of our country and annihilation of our sovereignty (one UK radio wag this week advised Irish people to remember to say thanks to all British people for the average £280 sterling per household required to fund their country’s contribution to our bailout ) — the Minister might also just as well have suggested listening to music. After all, there’s nothing more uplifting than tuning in to some powerful songs for a free ride to blissful fantasy — the perfect antidote to our current horrific reality.
Also this week in a telling early morning interview by Ivan Yates with Fianna Fáil diehard Mary O’Rourke, the much-loved doyenne brushed aside any feelings of disappointment over the precipitory move by the Greens to demand a New Year general election, or else, by casually dismissing the entire coalition party. “To be honest, I don’t feel strong enough about the Greens at all, one way or the other, to be disappointed, so no, I’m not disappointed,” she insisted.
In the same happy-go-lucky, chit-chat interview, the ever-upbeat Dep O’Rourke went on to take a cutting swipe at party colleague Mary Hanafin, who also behaved rather precipitorily this week in declaring herself a candidate for the Fianna Fail leadership. “Yes, she threw her — whatever she wears on her head — into the ring, that’s right,” was all Dep O’Rourke in the sweetest voice could disparagingly comment, testifying to just how cutting — and expertly spiteful — this senior powerhouse in the Dáil can be.
Then by midweek, the head man himself — who repeatedly and ‘categorically’ feels obliged to remind detractors that he is not a ‘Taoiseach on probation’ requiring a public stamp of approval — further betrayed his real personality with a blatant misogynistic and sexist comment, this time aimed at Labour TD Joan Burton. After enduring several minutes of castigation from this accomplished, blustering, opposition party member, Mr Cowen could take no more and so, rather desperately, turned his attention to her nearest 'macho colleague' — her boss-man, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, spluttering: “Would you ever rein her in every now and then.”
If ever a statement showed contempt for the fairer sex, and more particularly any member of the fairer sex who — to his mind — has the good fortune to be blessed with a position of authority, this one was a humdinger.
Congratulations Brian — or should that be one of the ‘Brians with no brains’ — as wise-cracking Ms Burton herself dubbed the boss men this week; it’s truly enlightening at last to start seeing your true colours.
Oh but of course, how could we forget? It was the clumsy divulgence of another particular 'Oirish' character trait back at the ‘drink-in think-in’ in Galway two months ago that actually triggered this appalling downward spiral in Ireland's international reputation. Sure wasn't it Mr Cowen himself who was the butt of the 'drunken Irish' joke on the infamous US Jay Leno chat show?
Our bailout own-up this week merely serves to perpetuate our handling on a global stage as figures of ridicule. Britain is especially relishing our boom/bust/bailout catastrophe, massaging their egos by generously offering help on the one hand, while chuckling gleefully into the other. “So you're seeing more and more people jumping into the river Liffey?” one particularly insightful UK reporter asked of an unawares Dublin fireman for Channel 4 news this week. Lovely.
The least we can do — apart from resorting to end-it-all ventures and sobbing non stop into our sleeves — is to try and take some relish witnessing the cracks continue to show, as our politicians twist and squirm in their efforts to dodge the firing line. Come the new year, with an entirely new team in charge, the country may still remain in dire straits but at least we'll have some new faces to point the finger at.
