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E-mailBrian Cowen will never reshuffle or sack Mary Coughlan because loyalty is one attribute that he holds dearest. In the political world, where overweening ambition tends to get in the way of humanity, it's not a trait that should be discouraged.
There is, however a limit to everyone's patience. While much that has been said and written about Coughlan in the last week bears the hallmarks of a witch-hunt, the Taoiseach must be privately regretting the day that he promoted her from Agriculture to Enterprise and Trade. At the very time in our economic history when we need a business hotshot to create and attract all the jobs we can get and a quick-witted Tánaiste with a wide grasp of the essentials of government business who can act as a Dáil heavy-hitter on the days the Taoiseach is out of the country, we have a politician who is, to her core, a darn good constituency TD, a Fianna Fáiler through and through – but not the pilot, or even co-pilot, to get you through the crash-landing that comes after engine failure.
Last week, the government was having a relatively good week; good at least compared with some of the many really rough ones it has had to endure.
The initial cacophony of opposition to Nama had been successfully hushed by an increasingly confident Brian Lenihan, a man who clearly revels in his role as a communicator of the complex. The 'Yes' campaign for the Lisbon treaty was also beginning to gain real traction with the 'No' side's arguments looking tireder and weaker by the day.
Then Mary Coughlan took Leader's Questions and her contribution has opened up a hornet's nest of criticism because it unravels the contradictions at the heart of Fianna Fáil's ability to lead this country out of the economic disaster that is present-day life.
Her disparaging remarks about the "many, many" recommendations in the McCarthy report that "make no sense at all" were manna from heaven to the opposition. They would have been fools not to run with it.
At a time when the government will struggle to get the Greens and FF backbenchers behind budget proposals in which an eye-watering €4bn worth of "savings" through a mix of cuts and taxes are needed, the cabinet has to show a united front or, quite simply, it will fail. Coughlan, Eamon Ó Cuív and Martin Cullen – and even Dick Roche in his statements querying the need to close some of our expensive embassies – have all contributed to the picture of a government divided and in disarray.
All politics are local, especially to Fianna Fáil, and it is the fact that they threw money at every half-conceived project ever suggested in order to win votes within their constituencies – without ever analysing their efficiency or affordability – that is at the heart of the McCarthy report. Can Fianna Fáil ministers confront this?
To do so is to demand a reinvention from parochial primer to national leader that very few in this government really grasp.
The second mistake was over the Fás scandal. In this, Coughlan is perhaps more culpable because her inability to manage the unfolding disaster over many, many months has left her exposed.
Her failure to get legal advice, when this is standard practice in every government department over much smaller issues, is highly questionable. Whether it would have left the taxpayer any better off is a moot point. Apparently the terms were within Department of Finance rules, which says a lot about Department of Finance rules. Worse for the government is that it exposes once again the unbelievable size of the pay packets and pension entitlements of senior public servants.
The golden handshake simply draws attention to the golden circle and gilded life of our so-called elite. The trouble is that over the past decade of Fianna Fáil power, there are hundreds of public agencies whose senior staff have pay and pension entitlements as good if not better than Rody Molloy's.
How many of their old friends can this government seriously confront in order to regain the credibility of the electorate? To borrow a phrase from Mary Coughlan – too many, too many.
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We vote NO!
The Lisbon Treaty is an attempt to establish a European superstate without asking Europeans for their permission. The approval of the Treaty of Lisbon will mean the transfer of the remainder of the decision-making power of European capitals to Brussels, where far away from us all a bureaucratic machine will decide our fates. The approval of the Treaty of Lisbon will mean a change for the worse, which will affect all of us. The Treaty of Lisbon, previously known as the European Constitution, was already voted on in France and the Netherlands, where the public voted a resounding NO. Then, the content of this document was apparently altered, but by less than a percent while, first and foremost, its name was altered to shove it down the throats of European nations. Only the fully democratic society of Ireland was given the opportunity to vote on the Treaty. The Irish also gave it a clear NO, but the European elite disregarded the vote and opted to bomb the Irish with propaganda, and to force them to re-vote on this defective document, a clear violation of all accepted democratic procedures and principles. This document was already rejected three times in separate democratic votes and, despite this, it is being forced upon Ireland, using economic blackmail, various forms of coercion and propaganda.
The European Union spends over 2 billion Euros annually on Propaganda. One shouldn't then be surprised at the massive pro-EU advertising campaigns, which remain unanswered and without rebuttal by society.
Free people and free nations cannot accede to such undemocratic coercion.
We, Polish bloggers who acutely follow European politics, have decided to join our fellow Irish bloggers to appeal to the Irish public to vote against the Treaty of Lisbon. A NO vote is not only a vote against the numerous pitfalls of the Treaty, but is also a vote against the methods used to bring it to life.
We thus appeal to the Irish to once again vote NO.
Vote NO in the referendum.
Vote NO for your own sake, vote NO for ours!