Sometimes, in our anxiety to achieve something, we make promises that haven’t a chance of being fulfilled. We’re on an airplane and suddenly there’s a bout of really scary turbulence. We put our seat in the upright position, close our eyes and pray to God to get us out of this nasty situation, we’ll stop being the mean, lying rat we are if He does. Then the turbulence subsides, you order a double gin and tonic, and by the time the plane lands and you’ve gone to find your luggage, you’ve just about forgotten about that little pact to be a transformed human being.
Something of the same pattern is being worked out in the politics of the south at the moment. As lock-down drives the population mildly nuts, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are busy assembling a government and promising that this time it’ll not be like before, it’ll be two Civil War parties that will put the people first. They’ll develop a really good health system, they’ll fix that housing crisis once and for all, they’ll see to it that everybody gets a living wage.
If I was feeling charitable I’d say that FF and FG, terrified of the turbulence that might prevent them getting back into power, are promising what is just about impossible. If I was feeling less charitable, I’d say that FF and FG are snake-oil salesmen, promising to deliver on what the population wants even though they know there’s not a chance in hell of it happening.
It won’t happen because the south’s economy is going to be in such a mess after Covid-19 paralysis, it’ll take months if not years to get it back to where it was. And if you do that, you’re going to need money, and the money will come out of the taxpayers’ pocket.
It’s also impossible because, for a hundred years, FG and FF have got into a way of thinking about government that makes sure the big boys and girls are on their side, never making moves that would upset some of Ireland’s uber-rich part of the population and leaning on the weakest people in the south until the pips squeak and the weakest people get mad as hell, at which point FF and/or Fine Gael call an election, promise all sorts of goodies, and we’re back where we started.
You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned Sinn Féin once in this blog. That’s because they’re going to be ignored, and with them the tens of thousands who voted for them, as FG and FF get ready to start the 100-year-old stagecoach lumbering along the same as ever.
Not fair, you say? Who in God’s name ever told you that the south was a fair society?
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