Taoiseach’s speech - Call to arms we should all support

A POWERFUL speech does not a recovery make but when an overdue one is finally delivered it has the capacity to make much of what has gone before seem less important; to make much of what lies ahead far less daunting.

Such a speech, just like summer’s the first overdue swallow, can carry the promise of better times and convince anyone who hears it that they have the capacity to overcome their difficulties.

It can turn fear into determined optimism.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen made such a speech to business leaders in Dublin on Thursday night.

Why he chose that occasion rather than a Dáil setting, why he waited so very long to deliver this direct, plain-speaking, forceful, challenging and uplifting speech is irrelevant. Even at this belated stage the message is far more important than the setting or the timing.

More of a call to arms than an address to the nation, Mr Cowen told it as it is. These are terrible times, he said, and he acknowledged that there are probably more terrible times ahead.

He did not hide behind spin-doctor voodoo. He did not lecture or patronise, he did not snarl or blind anyone with figures. Neither did he dress up the difficulties facing us all, especially the hundreds of thousands of people out of work.

The Taoiseach stressed, in an unscripted and passionate speech, the absolute importance of unity, that all sectors had to work together to confront the challenges that lie ahead. He acknowledged that the country had gone from a position of unknown prosperity to “the survival stakes”.

So powerful — and so very welcome — was his performance that it is hard to believe that this is the person who has droned and snarled in the Dáil in recent times; that he is the same person who virtually disappeared off the public radar in recent months.

The speech, to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, will provoke admiration and frustration in equal measures. Admiration that he has finally shown that he has the passionate commitment needed today and frustration that he did not make it many months ago when such a storming performance might have bolstered waning confidence, domestic and international.

His persistent commitment to the social partnership may be something union members come to value in time even if some time-locked, Pavlovian union leaders seem unable to embrace the determined and willing mood of the day. There is sectional anger right now but that can only survive if Mr Cowen does not honour the principles of equity and unity he so emphasised on Thursday night.

In the 17 minutes it took to make this speech Mr Cowen regained his authority, bought some time and did much to restore his reputation. We would do well to heed his call for unity.

Now, if Brian O’Driscoll can only be as forceful and motivating as he addresses his teammates before this evening’s game in Croke Park our French friends will surely be in for a torrid time.