From budget applause to insurrection: a week is a long time in politics

ON Tuesday, October 14, from the Temple of Wisdom, Merrion Square, Dublin, the Minister for Finance informed the nation of draconian measures which Fianna Fáil, in complicity with the Greens, intended to foist on pensioners, the sick and infirm.

This pronouncement was greeted with standing applause.

The following day, deputies, realising the folly of their actions, tried to inform Tánaiste Mary Coughlan of the panic and backlash unfolding. In a vain attempt to quell insurrection she threatened to recall the absent Taoiseach to bark them back into submission.

On Tuesday, October 21, again in panic, fearing the storming of the Bastille, they lowered the drawbridge. Hoping beyond hope that the guillotine would not be used, they apologised for the incompetent and deleterious budget. Too late, the spoken word cannot be retrieved.

Thomas Lynch

‘Autumn Leaves’

2 Connolly Road

Ballyphehane

Cork