All substance no style

WATCHING the Dutch football team play in the World Cup final last Sunday night, I was reminded somewhat of Brian Cowen. All substance but no style.

In contrast, the Spanish team displayed both substance and style. I can think of no Irish politician that the Spanish team might remind me of. Brian Lenihan perhaps. Maybe even Michael Noonan.
Enda Kenny has neither style nor substance, while Eamon Gilmore has plenty of style but no substance as far as I can see.
Brian Cowen’s lack of style was displayed when he uttered the word “fool” under his breath in reference to something Enda Kenny said in the Dáil last week.
A person of style wouldn’t dream of calling another person a fool. He might believe it or he might think it but he just isn’t going to say it.
When the bulk of his own front-bench members recently rebelled against Enda Kenny’s leadership, they cited many reasons for doing so. They said Enda lacked leadership qualities or was unable to communicate his message but none of them openly called him a fool.
And he is not a fool. It took a person of some ability to lead Fine Gael from the dismal depths to which it had plunged to eight years ago to become the biggest party outside the Dáil today.
Brian Cowen knows that Enda Kenny is not a fool. But his remark was typical of Cowen’s dismissal of opponents when he believes they are wrong.
I am not talking about Enda Kenny here when I say that Brian Cowen does not suffer fools gladly. He does not even suffer opponents gladly, as he is so convinced that he is right and they are wrong.
He is the complete opposite to his predecesor Bertie Ahern in that regard. He was another man with plenty of style but little substance.
Ahern had the gift of being able to accommodate everybody, opponents as well as supporters. He wanted everybody to be happy and he wanted everybody to like him. While he was at the helm of Fianna Fáil, there were no splits or factions in the party.
More importantly, it was Ahern’s style that helped bring about the Good Friday Agreement that brought relative peace to the North and social partnership that brought industrial peace to the South.
Ahern was a man who learned how to smile from the teeth out. Cowen could never do that. His scowl comes from the heart.
Ahern’s style would not be suitable in the present economic climate, which requires Cowen’s substance. It is Cowen who has to take the tough decisions like cutting public service pay and social welfare allowances. But it’s a pity that he cannot deliver those severe cuts with a little more style. 
To be fair to him, is there any style in telling a nurse or a teacher that his or her salary is to be reduced in order to pay for Government overspending in times past? The politician who might smile while making such an announcement would have the smile shoved back in his teeth fairly quickly.
Meanwhile, there was nothing stylish in the debate in the Dáil last Thursday about the Dáil going into recess for three months.
Actually there was nothing unusual in that. That has been the situation for several years. As a matter of fact, I remember when the Dáil might adjourn in early July and not return until the end of October. That was a break of four months.
Does it really make a blind bit of difference whether the Dáil returns at the end of September or at the beginning of September? Decisions will continue to be made by the Government, or not made by the Government, without any reference to the Dáil. TDs in general have little or no say in the running of the country,
So I am very cynical about this charade that goes on every year at this time. The Government announces that the Dáil will not sit again until the end of September. Opposition spokesmen and women immediately jump to their feet, pretending they are shocked and horrified that the House is taking such a long break. The same speeches are delivered year after year.
When, and if, the Opposition gets into power, they will proceed to award themselves the same long breaks to celebrate summer, Christmas, Easter and St Patrick’s Day.
Of course, the Dáil should not be closed down for most of the months of July, August and September every year but the reality is, as everybody knows, that TDs continue to work in their constituencies and that Dáil committees will continue to sit in July and September.
The mock hysteria about the length of the summer break is enough to make me despair about both the style and substance of most of our politicians.