Micheál and Simon go missing

When Stephen Roche won the Tour de France,  Charlie Haughey, like the sensible politician he was, made a beeline for France so he could be pictured beside this great Irish sportsman  and show that he rejoiced with the rest of the Irish people. And when Jack Lynch his political foe died in 1979, he attended  his funeral, even though his presence was greet with “stony silence”.

You could say that in fair weather and foul,  Charlie had the cojones to turn up . 

The same cannot be said for Micheál Martin or Simon Harris, as Irish people struggle with the damage inflicted by Storm Éowyn.   Micheál went missing in action, but that was understandable as he had to get on the phone and talk to Keir Starmer and receive his congratulations for having been voted Taoiseach. I’m not sure where Simon Harris was or what he was doing, but I’ve yet to come to a reference of him visiting  the 278,000 people and businesses who’ve been without power for days.

If you’ve spent even twenty-four hours without power, you’ll realise what a pain it is not to have electricity and so no possibility of cooking food, keeping warm, even watching telly. Some poor souls in the south – and probably north also – were without both light and water.One woman told me of a daughter travelling from deep in the south up to Belfast, just to get her family washed and some proper food into them.

Micheál and Simon’s minions have protested that recalling the Dail would be useless, far better to be helping people restore everyday life.  But what if you were doing neither? And what if you had holiers that must roll into February before you’ll be back in the Dail expressing your profound sadness at what happened?

It ain’t a good look, Micheál and Simon. Coming after the failed attempted to gobble up  the Opposition’s speaking time,  you could describe the early days of this government as a clusterfuck.