Leaders forget what matters

HEALTH and crime, those two old political staples, dominated the political agenda this week, wrapped of course in the standard gobbledygook that passes for political discourse.

On the A&E front, we quickly found ourselves with “a dedicated taskforce”, while the senseless murder of Donna Cleary was branded “a new low” and “a watershed”.

Such responses are as meaningless as they are hollow and they belittle the politicians who utter them.

When it comes to crime, just how many new lows can we have? And what are we saying of previous victims of other so-called watersheds when we decide their time in the limelight is to be superseded?

It was a watershed for the family involved certainly. But it is rare that a murder lives up to that grand title for society, the murder of Veronica Guerin being a notable exception.

As for taskforces, the word, as it is used by those in power, is not far off being fraudulent. To be more than an exercise in spin, such phrases have to be followed up by real action and intent.

But far too often these days, the PR nonsense that emanates from those in charge of our society is expected to suffice. It is frequently all we get. For each crisis, the right tone is sought and routinely delivered to par off the emergency until it returns again.

Mary Harney is an expert at this. Indeed, her spell at the helm of the Department of Health reflects Churchill’ saying that success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

More than a year ago, the Tánaiste made a powerful commitment. The way the Government handles the A&E crisis would be a litmus test for the coalition, she said, adding that she should be judged on her handling of the situation.

Only by using a George W Bush twist of logic has she lived up to that commitment.

“Well, I think if you say you are going to do something and you don’t do it, that’s trustworthiness,” the US president has famously said.

Often for politicians, the most important thing is not to really grapple with societal ills and their causes, but to win the sound byte battle.

Crime is a touchstone issue, which means politicians will forever seek to manipulate our fears in return for votes. Unfortunately, the public and the media facilitate that because by and large they react better to fear than to vision. It makes no odds that those most afraid of crime are the very sectors of society least likely to suffer.

So we get Michael McDowell saying: “I believe everybody in Ireland, be they an elected politician, an ordinary citizen, a member of the judiciary, members of law enforcement agencies, anybody who reflects on what happened last night must realise this is a watershed point.”

Why must we all realise this so urgently? So Mr McDowell can sound tough on crime, perhaps. But certainly not because it is true. Such talk is aimed little higher than bar stool level.

The gratuitous nature of Donna Cleary’s murder was appalling but no more so than dozens of other killings. There will soon enough be further proclamations of watersheds and new lows in the war of words among politicians seeking frightened votes.

Other politicians fared no less honourably this week than Mr McDowell. The Taoiseach gave us his “life should mean life” proclamation as if he and his Government had nothing whatsoever to do with implementing such policies.

Fine Gael too jumped on the illusionary bandwagon, calling for mandatory sentences despite having opposed mandatory sentences for drug dealers not so long ago.

The end result this week was an undignified melee with all the parties focusing more on discrediting the other than putting forward any coherent vision.

The point, though, is that what is actually important - such as focusing on deprivation and other causes of societal ill and crime - is forgotten in the midst of this political squabble.

The front pages and the politicians will fight it out until another scandal requires attention and then we all move on to the next moral panic having resolved nothing.

Another Bushism springs to mind.

“The thing that’s important to me is to remember what’s the most important thing.”

This week, our political leaders forgot what actually matters, amid their race to outdo each other.

It is our fault we put up with this. We should demand better.