We’d vote them back again

IN the wake of the recent announcement that not one of our 51 public hospitals is at the highest standard of cleanliness, let’s get one thing straight before there’s more tut-tutting and poo-pooing in the media with regard to Joe Public getting what he deserved after re-electing Bertie Ahern and Co last May.

That fact is this — if there was a general election in the morning, then Bertie Ahern would be anointed again.

Those people who voted for “more of the same” in May would sneak into the polling booths and give their No1 to Fianna Fáil yet again.

The whiff of sulphur hasn’t just oozed out of Bertie in the few months since the election — it’s been there for years — yet those who have afforded themselves a high cost of living decided that the dubious practices and general unaccountability of his party were the prices to be paid to keep the supposed good times rolling.

For these self-absorbed citizens the misdiagnosis of breast cancer patients and the subsequent awarding of wage increases to those who should bear responsibility for this tragic mess are just some of the customary downsides to their ballot box choices. One can only assume they’d prefer if these things didn’t happen, of course, but then they must accept that they’re unavoidable all the same.

Whether we like it or not, democracy works and the governments we elect are simply a reflection of the population over whom they rule.

The present Government certainly didn’t put anything about their dogma of ‘value-for-money before people’s health’ in its election pamphlets, and if the breast cancer debacle, for instance, was a once-off, then the Government and all those who voted for it might be absolved of their responsibility.

This is not, however, an isolated blunder. Rather, it’s just the latest example of the systematic and juvenile mismanagement of the State by delusional little men.

It’s only when this everyday mishandling of the country becomes unacceptable to a majority of the public that change will occur, so more “tsk-tsk, I-told-you-so” newspaper columns will be of little benefit to anyone.

Kieran Sullivan

Georgestown

Kilmacthomas

Co Waterford