WATCHING the frenzy surrounding the identity of the Anglo Irish 10 brought to mind John Horgan's wry observation many years ago that if Watergate had happened in Ireland, Nixon would have stayed in office and everybody would have known who Deep Throat was.

Ok, so the comparison isn't absolutely valid but the basic point remains that, in our obsession with uncovering who was involved in the Anglo Irish share deal last year, we are in danger of losing sight of the bigger picture.

Discovering the identities of public enemies number two to 11 – Seán FitzPatrick already has top spot nailed down – is, quite frankly, the least our problems.

It is vitally important that anybody engaged in wrongdoing is held to account and the full rigour of the law is brought to bear. And that is a job for the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

Releasing the names, though, is less to do with bringing anybody to justice and more about finding scapegoats and, in the case of the opposition, potentially embarrassing the government.

If the names of the 10 can be released without jeopardising any potential future legal action against them – which seems possible – and if it doesn't breach banking secrecy laws – a somewhat thornier issue apparently – then by all means their identities should be disclosed. But once they are tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion, it won't alter the fact that we are in a whole heap of trouble.

Optimism that the political system has what it takes to pull the country back from the brink can hardly have been bolstered by events this week. For most of the past nine months, it is the government that has failed to inspire, but last week it was the opposition that excelled – if that is the right word – in this department.

Just what Fine Gael was at with its attempts to draw links between the cabinet and the so-called Golden Circle is hard to fathom. Apart, of course, from making political capital.

With politics being a rough-and-tumble business, it probably shouldn't have been a surprise to hear Enda Kenny ask the Taoiseach to confirm that "no member of the government was involved in any way by encouragement, support or any other activity to facilitate the situation whereby 10 persons were each given €30m from Anglo Irish Bank".

But to persist with this line of questioning for three days without producing a shred of evidence to back it up was outrageous. Brian Cowen was quite right to call it a smear campaign. It brought back unpleasant memories of the time Jim McDaid was hounded out of office, on the back of utterly groundless accusations, hours after being appointed defence minister.

At a time when the country's international reputation is in the doghouse due to the activities of Anglo Irish Bank and others, it shouldn't be too much to expect all politicians to stick to the facts. If any member of the cabinet is involved with this golden circle then, of course, the truth must come out. But given the potential to cause further damage to our rather tainted image, it must be the truth, not unsubstantiated innuendo.

The opposition's response last week to the government's legislation on the public sector pension levy was also deeply disappointing, if not exactly surprising, particularly in Labour's case.

Of course, if Fianna Fáil was on the opposition benches, it would no doubt be doing exactly the same thing (it would probably be also trying to link Fine Gael to the golden circle). But that doesn't alter how unrealistic the opposition's position is. The way things are shaping up, the hole in the public finances is going to be even bigger than €20bn and much greater cuts and tax increases are going to be required.

Labour's pandering to the public sector unions is understandable on political grounds – it's sharp rise in the recent Irish Times opinion poll appears to be largely down to public sector workers defecting from Fianna Fáil. But given these voters opted to move to Labour rather than Fine Gael, it is baffling why the main opposition party is now welching on its previous tough line on public sector pay.

The way things are shaping up, Fine Gael and Labour are likely to be forming the next government. The truth is that, when Fine Gael and Labour take over, the public sector pension levy will stay in place because the public finances will dictate that there is no other option.

And the unpalatable truth is that much more onerous levies are coming down the track. We can only hope that some of the doomsday scenarios being put forward for Ireland prove to be exaggerated. But, whatever happens, a huge amount of pain is on the way. Tens upon tens of thousands of workers will lose their jobs, existing taxes are going to rise sharply, new taxes are going to be introduced, social welfare rates are going to be frozen at best and spending is going to be cut sharply.

By all means hold people accountable for their wrongdoing. But given the crisis we are facing, the main priority for our political system must be getting the banking system and the economy working again as quickly as possible.

scoleman@tribune.ie