A good week to brush away bad news

IN the words of that infamous political phrase, it was a good week to bury bad news.

The departure of Bertie Ahern dominated all before it, swamping stories that would normally have shouted for attention, such as the cancer misdiagnosis scandal and fears the chill winds of a world recession were blowing our way.

While the twin towers were crashing to the ground on 9/11, one quick-thinking adviser to Britain’s Minister for Trade and Enterprise realised that while it may be a bad day for New York, it would be a terrific one for spin. She advised her colleagues to rush out any announcements that would reflect badly on the Labour government, knowing they would be buried as surely as the victims of the attacks on the US.

The chilling ability to think outside the box was rewarded with dismissal from her post, but the phrase has passed into the political lexicon.

The report into the breast cancer misdiagnosis of Tipperary woman Rebecca O’Malley was grim reading for those placing their trust in the HSE and would have sparked more national soul-searching had it not come out at the same time as the Taoiseach’s departure news.

News that Cork Airport Authority will be saddled with debts of €113 million following its independence from its Dublin equivalent would also have seen ministers thrown onto the back foot in any normal week.

Brian Cowen may be getting out of the Finance Department just in time if the latest exchequer figures were anything to go by as they showed tax receipts a massive €600m below forecast. Coupled with a surge in unemployment revealed in the latest live register figures, it would have been difficult for the Government to have found itself a blacker week to have buried under the rubble of Mr Ahern’s surprise exit.