When the going gets tough, the gritless minister gets going – as chilled-out Cabinet play it cool on deep freeze

WITH all the skill and efficiency of a bomb planting operation by Slovakian intelligence, the Government finally swung into action to deal with the worst winter weather crisis for nearly half a century.

Noel Dempsey put a new spin on the old political maxim that when the going gets tough, the tough get going as the Transport Minister got going out of the country just as the road mess he is meant to sort out froze the country in its icy grip.

Talk about getting the last flight out of a failed state. Mr Dempsey clearly knows his department better than we thought and realised the roads would remain ungritted, all bus transport would cease from mid-afternoon in the capital due to a well predicted shower of snow, and trying to make use of the airports, trains and rural routes would become a game of Russian roulette.