It’s time the Leinster House stable lads took out the brush and shovel

WE are not stuck with this bizarre budget or this peculiar Government.

Constitutionally, in our system of government, the responsibility for deciding who becomes (and who remains) Taoiseach lies with each individual member of the Dáil.

They are not elected to be robotic delegates of those who vote for them — let alone rubber stamps for party bosses. They are elected to represent all their constituents — and the country.

To provide continuity and stable government, the practice has developed (quite reasonably) of TD’s agreeing to subordinate their ad hoc or personal views to a whip. They vote together as a group. Just as a good sporting team acts together — placing their individuality to one side. For the common good. In normal times. All TDs who form part of the current Government majority have to decide whether to take off their shades, acknowledge the nudity of the emperor and his cabinet colleagues and vote accordingly. At the very next division in the Dáil. Or just pray the ship will not founder.

If only from the point of view of political management and communication, the budget has been somewhat inelegant (On the record of the last five years, is this a surprise?). The income levy alone is madly regressive. It takes no account of the most basic socio-economic fact of all: that the lower one is on the income scale, the greater the proportion of one’s income is devoted to necessities. We know from Dublin Castle that within our ruling class, sums of tens of thousands in whatever currency they happen to have chosen can be ‘forgotten’ or ‘overlooked’. Not exactly so when one is struggling to make ends meet.

Bertie Ahern’s last great gift (blessing or curse?) to the Irish people was a stable majority which could hold till 2012. Changing the word ‘stable’ from an adjective to a noun, we should ruminate over what (if the stable is not cleaned out periodically) accumulates on the floor and becomes infested with vermin. It endangers the health of the horse. Every Government TD has a yardbrush in one hand and a shovel in the other. Time to muck out the stable.

Maurice O’Connell

Fenit Without Fenit

Tralee

Co Kerry