Despite their delusions, Fianna Fáil does not own the Oireachtas

MAYBE — just maybe — the country has the semblance of an opposition after all, as evinced by the climbdown by the Government on the controversial issue of electronic voting.

Despite a stubborn insistence on the part of the Government that electronic, or e-voting, was the greatest thing since democracy, they had to engage in an embarrassing admission that all wisdom does not reside in them, although they would have us believe otherwise.

In a result of a rare display of unity, Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens forced the Government to announce that substantial amendments to legislation introducing the system would have to be made, although it seems it will be in place in time for the elections in June.

This awkward admission came while the greatest proponent of ballot box revolution Environment Minister Martin Cullen was inflicting himself on the unfortunate people of Malaysia in the cause of EU business. We were assured that he was consulted on the U-turn.

One of the first out of traps in the e-voting stakes was Tánaiste Mary Harney who had second thoughts on her complete commitment to it at Cabinet level. She shared her reservations the very next day in a radio interview. Gives you an idea how thorough those Cabinet debates are, doesn't it?

Anyway, Ms Harney, on mature recollection, decided that "issues of verification had been sought" and so the climbdown commenced.

She added: "I don't think it's a good idea to have controversy in what is, after all, an important area."

What a strange sentiment, especially seeing that most of the present administration's decisions are surrounded by controversy, none more so than the important area to which she was referring.

Naturally, a spokeswoman for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern denied that the whole thing had been badly handled and utterly rejected accusations of arrogance.

The latter charge had been levelled at them on more than one occasion from the opposition benches, but they were studiously ignored and the arrival of e-voting was proclaimed by Mr Cullen in a €4.5 million blaze of publicity, in which he essentially said that he knew best. He had previously ranted on the subject and brazenly said, "this is what the Oireachtas has chosen to do. This isn't some sort of zealot approach to the system on my behalf", which of course it was.

It was patently obvious, too, that it was not what the Oireachtas had chosen to do, unless a rush of megalomania to the head deluded him into the belief that only Fianna Fáil, with a little bit of help from the PDs, constitute the Oireachtas.

The Government was under the impression that a ministerial order was sufficient to allow e-voting in non-Dáil elections and it did not require primary legislation. The Taoiseach categorically maintained this was so, as did Mr Cullen, who was responsible for foisting the €40million system on the country.

There was a whole raft of objections to it, based on the fact that it was far from foolproof because there was no way the results could be verified, nor did it have a paper trail. There was also public disquiet because of the fact that people could not spoil their votes, if that was the way they wished to express their democratic right.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny described it as a "black hole" and Labour leader Pat Rabbitte was equally complimentary about it.

Incidentally, the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell, who is usually referred to as the public's watchdog, also had reservations about the e-voting system which the Government wanted.

In any case, the fact that the Government bowed to the will of the opposition in at least some aspects of this issue, could be described as seeing our political system work as it should.

True, but those with a cynical frame of mind might say it was the opposition closing ranks to protect themselves, and the fact that it involved an issue of public concern was a happy coincidence.

Maybe they had a vision, or a recurring nightmare, of Fianna Fáil being returned to power in perpetuity, without a verifiable trail to confirm the results of an election, a kind of Florida syndrome.

Possibly, they were not the only ones who had such a nightmare.

THE head of communications of the airline that "does not and has never charged for wheelchair assistance at an airport" took time out to send me a three-page fax to point out that they never charged for wheelchair assistance...

The world knows by now that a judge ruled that they acted unlawfully by not ensuring a free wheelchair was provided for a man with cerebral palsy and arthritis, and awarded him £1,336 in compensation. The case was taken on his behalf by the Disability Rights Commission against the airline.

The head of communications told me that they are appealing "the defective county court ruling in this case" so they obviously expect a result, as Jack Charlton was wont to say.

The court of appeal will obviously put Judge Crawford Lindsay QC, who found in favour of the man, back in his box and the much maligned airline will be vindicated.

In the meantime, the 50p (best part of a euro) wheelchair levy, which the carrier said it would impose on every passenger, is under continuous review, and will be immediately withdrawn when the appeal in this case is successful.

I fail to understand why, when they're trumpeting the fact that they do not and never have charged for wheelchair assistance, they would impose the levy anyway.

One item the head of communications need not bother to fax me about because his boss said it during the week is the new plan to save on weight in the air.

To further cut costs he has ordered a new fleet of stripped-down planes devoid of reclining seats, window blinds, head rests, seat pockets and other "non-essentials".

Thankfully, pilots are not yet included in the category of non-essentials, but...

Cutting out reclining seats will save about €2m every year; removing window blinds will save another €200,000 on each plane; removing seat pockets will reduce cleaning costs and shorten the time in which planes are cleaned and turned around, and €150,000 will be saved by removing Velcro headrests.

They should go the whole hog and get rid of seats altogether and replace them with the straps, such as they have on the tube. I mean, what can people expect if they only pay something like €10 or even less, for a flight? If they also insisted that passengers travel naked, just think of what they would save in avoidable, excess weight.

But wait for it the biggest saving to the airline would be by banning baggage. The head of communications' boss said he plans to steer passengers away from checked-in luggage, eliminating the need for baggage handling, suitcase holding areas and lost property.