Sometimes it’s better to confess. When you do, it can feel as though a huge boulder of responsibility, of blame has been removed from your shoulders.
Unfortunately, politicians don’t do this. When’s the last time you heard a politician sigh and confess that he and his party had made a complete Horlicks of the whole affair? Right.
On Upfront with Katie Hannan (RTE) this week, they were discussing whether the gardaí, teachers and nurses should get special help with accommodation, given their key roles in society. It was a superficially bright idea which on closer examination was proved divisive and a bit crazy. Of course gardaí, teachers and nurses are key to the running of the state; but then so are hospital cleaners, supermarket shelf stackers and care workers. In fact, pretty well every job is vital, even though we pay some next to nothing and others an impressive abundance.
Fianna Fail’s Kieran O’Donnell took a roasting on Upfront this week. Micheál Martin has appointed or is about to appoint a ‘housing czar’. It’s not quite clear what he’ll do – there is a Housing Minister already, even if he has proved he’s out of his depth – but this new czar is set to get a salary of €430,000. That’s more than Donald Trump’s salary. Despite having lied about the number of houses built in 2024, in order to get a leg-up in the general election last year, Fianna Fail are sailing into 2025 with ominous signs they’re going to do even worse this year. Maybe they hope the public will blame the czar when they underachieve once again.
The truth is, housing has baffled and brain-pummelled Fianna Fail. They keep insisting that they are on the road to recovery, but that’s a bit like someone with a terminal disease assuring everyone that it’s just a mild cold they have.
Poor Kieran O’Donnell avoided answering dangerous questions, but his vague flannelling was a sight to behold. Uncomfortably seated between Eoin Ó Broin of Sinn Féin and Dan O’Brien a senior economist at Trinity College, poor Kieran lurched from one side of the argument to the other, while Ó Broin and O’Brien produced facts and figures that made O’Donnell’s hot seat look as though it might burst into flames.
You could, I suppose, admire O’Donnell for slogging on in the face of shot and shell. On the other hand, it’d probably have been more impressive if O’Donnell had saidL: ‘Point taken, lads. When it comes to housing, we’re as much use as a eunuch at an orgy.’
You should try it, Kieran. You’ll feel a whole lot better.
Comments are closed.