A Political Disaster-Class!

Is it just me or is anyone else shocked, annoyed, p@#$*d off and distinctly uncomfortable with the delay in forming a new Government? Was the election not seven weeks ago and yet we are still waiting to hear and read about the make-up of the next Dáil?

We all know that the wheels of Government tend to turn very, very slowly, but they appear not to be moving at all on the important issue of actually governing this country. It just goes to prove that the Humphreys of this world, which so famously amused us during the early eighties in the UK sitcom “Yes Minister”, are the people actually running this country.

Despite no Government, at the time of writing this article, this country continues to run and function efficiently enough. We have not yet turned into a lawless anarchistic state with angry hordes taking to the streets to demonise our political class thus begging the question just what have our newly elected representatives been doing for the last seven weeks?

Have we the tax payer just been subsidising one big Dublin shindig?

Is this not a clear case of demonstrating just how unproductive the political system is in Ireland? Were we to benchmark the productivity over the last seven weeks I am quite sure that the outcomes would not make good reading. Businesses and employees are constantly being told to be more productive, be more streamlined and yet the very people championing this mantra are themselves not practising what they preach. Never have I witnessed such ineptitude and incompetence.

Does it really take seven weeks to get round a table, bash a few heads together, forget historic playground jibes and “barter a better deal for the people for Ireland?”

Of course it should not.

The people, on 26^th February, gave a mandate for a new type of political representation and yet those elected seem to have forgotten this and now seem to be once again ploughing their own furrow for the betterment of who? There was just one chance to sweep the political map clean and start afresh? But we are back once again to sweeping the same dirt round and round the room.

Being openly pro all things Waterford, these delays are not doing our City, County and the greater South East any good what so ever. The longer the negotiations, (or should that read child’s play?), go on, the more and more we lose focus, on the very issues that need to be fixed to get us back to some sort of viable economic stability.

Wander around our City on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and even a Thursday and you will see very few people out spending money in our retail heart. We are still in that third tier of Ireland’s economic recovery and our disposable income is one of the lowest in the country. This elephant in our room will not go away and longer the procrastinations and childish bickering that goes on in Dublin the more our economic issues will fade as a distant election manifesto memory.

So who should we blame for the delay in getting on with governing? Well, I would blame ALL politicians for not sorting this mess out. People need to swallow their pride and find a solution that suits the county and not a solution that suits the politicians.

 

I wonder if we paid our politicians based on results, actions, productivity and delivery would we be in a different place? I do not know of any business or organisation for that matter, that would pay staff for what has in actuality been seven weeks of inactivity and downtime!

Finally, I must say that our TD’s are all looking extremely smart, save one or two exceptions, with new suits, perfect hair, and new gunas, on that satellite channel Oireachtas TV. Clearly, they have been spending their time wisely, seeking the advice of Gok Wan.

Though some have evidently engaged Trinny and Susannah for styling tips!

They think it is all over!

Well it will be on Friday 26^th February for the next five year. Or will it?

In under 24 hours we will all be in the solitude of an election ballot booth, pencil or pen in hand, a ballot paper facing us, displaying in alphabetical order the very best profile shots of the 12 candidates on offer here in Waterford City and County.

If you were to believe all the election spin we are reading, hearing and seeing on our national TV channels, then every party is going to get the number one vote from every doorstep visited. This of course means that all 12 of our candidates will be elected!

In our four TD constituency we will of course only see four TD’s represent us in the next Dáil and these four good men or women will hope to have five years to make a real difference to Waterford and the people they represent. So making the right decision will have a bearing on how our City and County perform over the next five years and yet I do feel that there may be a minority Government formed and we will be back in the same sterile election booth sooner rather than later.

Quite clearly there will be some very interesting shenanigans post #GE16 when the main political parties start the political scrambling and begin to barter a better deal with Independents, the smaller parties and anyone who can be bought and sold for a handful of gold.

We may even end up with an old historical political map where the odd few battle hardened Independents can hold a coalition Government to ransom. Where support votes can be guaranteed with vast sums of money for roads, for schools and of course the Independents' favourites hospitals and education.

Though only living here in Waterford City for fifteen years I do recall in previous Dáils many political bounty hunters making lots of hay whilst the sun shone with cobbled together Governments that were literally held together with no more than sticky tape. This type of Government is no good to man or beast and in fact makes an utter farce of the current political system.

Do we really wish to see the return to the omnishambles of a Government where the future governance of the whole country is held to a payoff by the localised whims and promised votes of country bumpkin politics? This type of political rule is unfortunately still at large in Ireland and we need to move away from such Dickensian ways and practices. But I fear this time around the politics will not have engaged with sufficient “new” voters to move us in the right direction and deliver a better and more transparent political system.

Rest assured that the usual suspects who have graced the front pages of our board sheets, for all the wrong reasons over the last five years, will be returned to the Dáil for #GE16. These local “cowboy politicians” have for some unexplained rationale lots of grassroots support, in some abundance, as there is no real alternative to the political malaise that grips the Country.

I have often wondered if the political Status Quo actually suits the current politics we have to live with on a daily basis, as to have to engage with potential new voters takes time, effort, and above all an awful lot of imagination.

We all know that imagination and our current political representatives are not a marriage made in heaven! So it may well take another generation to make a real change in the way we engage and vote in Ireland or it might take a hung Government and a few months of political infighting, bickering and squabbling to finally get all voters to see the woods for the trees. 

#GE16 will not go down in history as the most exciting, but do hold your breath as another #GE may just be around the corner.