People are being driven to despair

How long more is Labour prepared to prop up this puppet Government, which prefers to obey the orders from their masters in Berlin rather than the people they are supposed to represent?
Three years? Two years? One year? Maybe one week? Your guess is as good as mine.

You might believe that if Labour is able to vote for a budget that came down hardest on its own core supporters, they could put up with anything.

However, politics is a very inexact science, and you never know what might be around the corner. A government might not fall on one of the big issues of the day such as the economy but could slip-up on a banana skin that nobody expected.

In my time, John Costello’s last coalition government was toppled on the issue of border security in 1957 and Albert Reynolds lost power in 1994 because of some forgotten issue relating to a paedophile priest. Perhaps this Government might survive the economic crisis but might fall on the question of abortion.

There are certain tensions between Fine Gael and Labour at present and those are mainly to do with how to handle the economy. Labour has lost a number of TDs on this issue and are quite likely to lose more. The Government majority, however, is so big that they can afford to lose a few TDs here and there and still be able to remain in power.

We do know that at the Labour Parliamentary Party meeting in Leinster House last week, there were some harsh words said about the Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly.

Last Sunday, The Sunday Independent reported that the Cabinet was ‘at war’. Now that might be going a bit too far but there have been rows between Fine Gael and Labour ministers. Various ministers have described these rows as “robust exchanges”, which are part and parcel of coalition governments. There is more to it than that.

The Sunday Independent also reported that Education Minister Ruairi Quinn told that Labour Parliamentary Party meeting that fears Dr Reilly was “not up to the job” were shared by their Cabinet colleagues.

Minister Quinn was quizzed on this by reporters on Monday morning. He said he had “full confidence” in and “sympathy” for Dr Reilly but he did not deny he had said the Health Minister was not up to the job. He did not confirm it either, saying that the meeting was a private one and he would not divulge anything that was said at it.

The fact that he has not denied saying Dr Reilly was not up to the job says it all. If he had not said what he was reported as saying, I am damn sure he would deny it very fast indeed and would ring up the Sunday Independent to knock the story.

Now it is just possible that this whole thing was engineered by Ruairi Quinn in the first place. He is a long time in politics. He knows very well that nothing said behind closed doors at parliamentary party meetings are going to stay behind closed doors. He is no fool. He would know that if he said anything controversial at the meeting he would be quoted in the papers at the weekend.

Perhaps that’s what he wanted. Perhaps he wanted to show doubting Labour Party supporters that their ministers were on their side and fighting for their cause at Cabinet level but were up against the intransigence of people like Minister Reilly. However, he couldn’t say that in public without causing a Cabinet rift.

Perhaps I am adding two and two and coming up with 22. I might be wrong but I can tell you that I have met many a Machiavelli in Irish politics over the years. I am not accusing Ruairi Quinn of being an Irish Machiavelli but he wouldn’t have survived in the cauldron of Dublin South East politics for so long without having learned a thing or two about survival.

What Labour – and especially Fine Gael – are doing is telling the most vulnerable people in Ireland that they are the ones who must pay for the big spending of the banks over the years.

If there was ever any doubt about Fine Gael’s commitment to the poor, the sick and the needy, that doubt was confirmed last week when Fine Gael threatened to cut all social welfare payments if Labour insisted on making those who earn over €100,000 a year pay a higher rate of the Universal Social Charge.

We now have had six harsh budgets in a row – six budgets which have widened the gap between rich and poor and have made matters worse rather than better for the economy but we have made those who rule over us in Europe feel happy with us.

They tell us we have at least two more harsh budgets to come before we are out of the recession.
Perhaps Fine Gael and Labour ministers believe they can stick together through that time, then bring in a “soft” budget in 2015 and all will be forgiven in time for a general election in early 2016. They wouldn’t want to bet on it. There are too many extra taxes that are here to stay and too many cuts in essential services that will not be restored. So there is no chance that people are going to be able to forget what is being done to them.

Ministers are cushioned from the harsh reality of life for tens of thousands of Irish people today. They have no idea how many people are no longer able to cope. They think that an extra five or even 10 euros out of people’s pockets every week is not too much to ask for but they are so wrong. A growing number of people do not have five more euros to spare. They see no future. They are being driven to despair.

They will want to wreak vengeance at the next election but they see no alternative to the present shower. Germany now rules Europe.