Lethargy seems to have crept into the current political arena at the present time. Now more than ever the status quo seems to have become engrained into the mindset of the Irish people, as we struggle to come to terms with what is going on in the country at the moment. As if this wasn’t bad enough, our Taoiseach, Enda the Seer, has not helped matters by confirming our own suspicions and proclaiming to the world at large that we are “Mad”. But his prophetic judgment seems to be a function largely based on hindsight, that is, he’s very good at rearing his head after an event and proclaiming, “I knew that was going to happen.” We’ve heard the same drivel before, we heard it immediately after the General Election when Enda and his merry men decided that the 5 point plan was only a mere election promise, a small token to show just what his party could do if elected, but which would safely be deposited to the pile marked “under consideration”, a sort of limbo well known to the Jim Hackers and Sir Humphrey’s of the world rather than our “esteemed” Dáil deputies.
The plan, which could more accurately be described as a working title rather than a major policy document, promised jobs, placed education at its very core, and promised to seek a reduction in Irelands debt. So far Jobbridge has become a means of getting highly qualified (yes you have to be highly qualified) persons to work for an extra €50 on top of their social welfare payment. This is nothing short of madness; instead of getting people back to work and off the live register the government are actually encouraging social welfare payments as an alternative to full-time employment. Of course, companies aren’t complaining, they’re receiving skilled graduates for €50 a week, a deal you’d expect to see in Lidl or Aldi rather than a government internship scheme.
Education also took a bit of a hammering, as Quinn-occhio started to distance himself from signing any USI pledge. Indeed, Quinn did such a marvelous job of forgetting that he signed the pledge that it took thousands of students marching in Dublin with cries of the hardships of full-time education to remind him that any such pledge had ever existed. But the bout of short-term memory loss subsided and Ruairí Quinn began to spout that oft quoted mantra of “we didn’t know the scale of the financial problems faced in this country”. Well Ruairí, despite your protestations, you did know when you signed that USI pledge (Yes you did sign it, we have pictures) the full scale of the countries problems, but you decided to court the electorate rather than be honest and upfront because lets face it, getting elected is much more important than letting the plebs on the street know what was actually going to happen. Gene Kerrigan’s tale of Irish local politics, entitled, “Never Make a Promise You Can’t Break” should be on the Leaving Cert English paper, just so the next generation knows exactly what they are up against.
As far as the promises of a reduction in the country’s debt is concerned it seems that Quinn’s memory loss has spread to his cabinet colleagues (maybe there’s something in the water). Before the election our Taoiseach elect stood like a prize pig beside Merkel and Sarkozy in Brussels while squealing on and on about the assurances he had received that Irelands debt would be looked at. God, that seems like a life time ago and can easily be forgotten about, well at least that’s what Enda Kenny seems to be hoping. Since that particular photo op, Enda has changed his game plan (yes he probably had something closely resembling a plan… of sorts at one stage), now he has gone from being the youthful rebel in the class to the atypical noddy, in that he seems to now sit at the front of the class nodding at everything Merkozy say, and probably wittering little nonsensical reassurance of “yes sir” and “right away sir”. And if that lap dog approach to international relations wasn’t terrifying enough, it seems that now Enda has no intention, never mind recollection, of looking for some write down in our debt. And this from the man who called us mad! Sigh
But maybe we are a bit mad, or more so not mad enough. As much as it galls me to say it, I found myself agreeing with Eamon Dunphy last week as he reminded us all of just how relaxed we are about what is happening to our country. For all our history of war and rebellion we have become a nation of pacifists. We seem to take news of a €100 household charge, the imminent Septic Tank charge and complete lack of coherent plan lying down. Yeats told us in September 1913 that romantic Ireland was dead and gone. I wonder what he would say in 2012, I would imagine his critique would be a lot more scathing.
Amnesia passes and when it does Enda Kenny and his cohorts better be ready because it’s not going to be a pretty sight. The art of magic is about slight of hand and misdirection, but even these tricks become nonchalant when examined closely and you see the coin that will appear from behind your ear cupped discretely between the magicians fingers. Poor Enda faces the same illusion shattering experience as the magician, although unlike the magician Enda’s attempts at misdirection so far have been mediocre to say the least. And when the collected cabinet amnesia disperses, so too will the country’s idolatry. And then my friends, the fun will begin…
