Ifs, buts and maybes!

As a passionate Scot, I could not let this week go by without writing about the Auld Country and of course the Brexit Referendum.

With the mountains of dust beginning to settle, on what was an astonishing decision for both the remain and leave faction, I get the very distinct impression that politicians on both sides of this troublesome fence have been, at best, stretching the truth and at worst, telling big fat porky pies!

From across the Irish Sea, where we are slightly removed from the real political bandwagon - that Big Red Bus with its dubious £350 million statement - we were only getting snippets of news, reports and sentiment, as reported through RTE.

However, if you are interested in politics, as I am, you would have been tuning into the BBC, Channel Four etc to get the real meat of the argument. More importantly you got to look into the proverbial eyes of politicians when tackled by a Dimbleby, a Neil or a Marr.

Over the weeks and days leading up to the historic vote, it became very clear that each side was spinning the truth. The collateral damage after the event has shown this to be the case.

The two main battle ground issues of the £350 million a week going to the EU, which would now be diverted to the NHS, was a lie! The Immigration Crisis was clearly not the problem Nigel and Boris made it out to be!

I suspect that there was far more going on in this campaign, as there always is with politics, than the issues that grabbed the headlines.

Clearly, Boris and his Machiavellian cohorts, have been plotting in the background to orchestrate a leadership change in the Tory Party. However, history will tell you that the assassin does not always become King and if he does his reign is often short lived.

Deep down, I would not be surprised if Boris actually appreciated Europe more than most on the leave side and what he actually tried to manipulate, was a referendum result where the “Leave Team” lost by 4%, Cameron resigned, and he took over the Tory Party leadership, without the need to leave the European Union!

“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, Gang aft agley” (Robert Burns 1785, “Tae a Moose”).

Unfortunately, for Boris, this was not the final result, as Farage was the stick in the bicycle wheel spokes, tossing the rider from his seat. The Farage far right rhetoric, bordering on racist scaremongering, made sure that Boris and his schemers lost this vote.

Unlike other elections, this vote cannot be reversed after a political term in office, where we can vote out the usurpers. Decision made – you’re stuck with it!

So what did we learn from this referendum? Boris is being lined up for short-term gain but long-term disaster and Corbyn is driving with the handbrake on.

Politicians are NOT in touch with the people who vote them in and this is endemic right through the political process. Unless you are paying attention to the political system, taking a keen interest, then at every election, National or Local, you will be hoodwinked by the “lies, damned lies and statistics” that our representatives blabber when your vote IS most needed.

There appears to be no turning back, but like all these convoluted processes, there may well be light at the end of this very dark tunnel.

I suspect that once Boris or A.N. Other sacrificial lamb, negotiates Brexit we will see all manner of compromise, on both sides of the European Border, and a pseudo exit will be negotiated.

Will we learn from this historic decision? Of course we won’t because we will always vote for a monkey and not an organ grinder.

The good news is we can now bring back “Spitting Image”, as the Boris and Trump combo, will be the Thatcher and Reagan of this 21^st Century.

Mr Browne's boys made us look like a bit of a joke!

The per-referendum headlines last week were all centred around “The People’s Debate” with Vincent Browne, which was aired on Wednesday 20^th May.

I attended the live recording on Monday 18^th May having been asked to do so by the show’s producers. I was not sure what to expect but I was pretty sure, as with all these types of pre-recorded and edited shows, that what would go out on the evening of Wednesday 20^th May could either be great for Waterford’s stock or detrimental to Waterford’s stock.

Unfortunately, we got the later.

To set the scene. On the evening of the recording Vincent set the tone with the audience well in advance of any actual recording and he skilfully asked the audience what they wanted to discuss and debate. He steered us though all the hot and spicy topics for the debate and then brought in the three victims (TD’s), like gladiators entering the Coliseum. Only our Gladiators were armed with pen and paper and there was not a gladius or trident to be seen. Minister Paudie Coffey, John Halligan and Ciara Conway all entered the arena together, to a mixture of one or two muted cheers, lots of boos and much heckling from an audience clearly baying for blood.

The shows concept has now moved on from a debate to a shouting and venting match with the each weekly audience getting progressively more vocal and I feel that every week the new audience is trying to outdo the previous week’s show. There are approximately 24 more shows to be recorded and aired and I would hate to think what the audience’s mood or fervour will be as the show nears the end of its run. Clearly, the whole concept of debate has been lost and there are many angry voters wishing to vent and express their displeasure at their local TD’s and this platform is an ideal opportunity to do just that.

Regrettably, what we then get is a show that like so many others is edited to either be positive or negative about the City or Town where the recording took place. We must bear in mind that Waterford has to be even more positive than our competing Cities and Towns if we are to fast track our economic recovery, and the negativity that came from this recording will do Waterford’s stock absolutely no favours at all. And we have all seen the reality TV shows where clever editing has made contestants look like angels or devils, and when said contestant is evicted or voted out they are surprised that they have been portrayed in such a bad light. This unfortunately is the result of editing and often many of the good positive parts of such programmes are literally felt on the cutting room floor.

On the evening of the recording I know that there were a number of international business people, visiting Waterford, not too far from the programme venue and had they happened to wander into the debate I would hate to think what impression of Waterford they would have taken back to the States or Europe.

We have to be very, very careful of the PR we are producing for the City and County if we are in fact serious about bringing the City forward, seeking investment and ultimately reducing our unemployment rate. Shouting and berating politicians on national primetime television is not the way to go. Whether or not they deserve such vilification the circa 90 minutes of negative TV coverage is the last thing Waterford needs at the moment and we as citizens should be aware of that.

And just to emphasise my point of how positive PR makes us feel better and makes the Country look better we only have to assess at the impact the referendum vote on Friday 22^nd May will have on Ireland Inc. There can be no doubt that this voting issue received worldwide attention and will well and truly put Ireland on a very positive footing as the only country in the world to pass such constitutional change.

And what this says about this for every green county goes way beyond the actual vote and this change will, in time, make Ireland a much better place for investment and I am absolutely sure that the issue of equality will be one of the investment criteria that many a multi-national will now look at when seeking investment in Europe. As real equality says an awful lot about a country and its people and this will NOT go unnoticed.

Back to the debate. I received a phone call on the morning of Wednesday 20^th May asking me what I thought of the Monday night recording. I stated the obvious and said that I felt there was a lot of negativity in the room and depending on how the programme would be edited it could show Waterford in a good or bad light. I also commented on the performance of our TD’s and on the strength of this I was asked to appear on the live post-show analysis programme. I duly travelled up to Dublin to, in my mind, set the record straight about all the positive stories around Waterford at the moment. Alas, there was simply insufficient time to get all my points across and in the very short time I was given to speak I tried to get in as much positivity about the City and County as possible.

The lessons to be learned are very clear. If we are to put Waterford on a national television platform those participating must be mindful of the audience that will be watching the final edited programme. As I have said on many occasions we are ALL responsible for job creation, positive reinforcement and talking positively about this great City and County. We ALL have negativity in our lives but when the opportunity arises we must switch on our positive gene for the betterment of everyone and sadly for “The People’s Debate” we missed that opportunity.

 

Finally, I could not sign off without once again saying a gargantuan “Well done Ireland” in the referendum vote on 22^nd May. Whilst, I could not vote myself the overwhelming YES vote was a huge endorsement by the people of Ireland and to see so many people engaged in the debate was extremely positive, upbeat and heart-warming. 

I wonder if there will be as much enthusiasm for the next General Election!