Self-indulgent politicians paint a very stark picture of the country

THE authorities absurdly suggested during the week that Conor Casby, the artist who painted the controversial portraits of Brian Cowen, was guilty of indecency, incitement to violence and criminal damage.

What was Conor Casby supposedly inciting? In one portrait, the Taoiseach was holding an underpants and in the other a toilet roll.

Was this incitement for men to change their underwear, or discard their underwear and go commando? What possible incitement could there be in holding a roll of toilet paper?

The indecency charge was even more absurd and the criminal damage suggestion was just as ridiculous. By hanging the pictures in the gallery of Royal Hibernian Academy and in the National Gallery of Ireland the prankster provided a service by exposing their flawed security. One would understand the angst if the prankster drove nails through some valuable paintings, but not discretely into the walls merely to hang the two paintings.

The galleries should keep the pictures in position and I would confidently bet that they would attract a multiple of the usual number of visitors. Those galleries have received priceless international publicity thanks in no small measure to the government press secretary.

The whole thing would be hilarious if it was not so frightening. The press secretary sounded off because he undoubtedly believed that was what the Government wished him to do, and likewise the gardaí followed up the story. Would somebody please tell us why the gardaí are now wasting their time questioning Conor Casby?

In his radio programme last Thursday, Joe Duffy interviewed Marie Phelan whose son, Colm, was murdered in Galway on July 21, 1996 when he went there to attend a stag party. Gerald Barry killed him, but he was only convicted of a violent assault.

In 1998, while Barry was out on bail, he assaulted an elderly man living alone. The man was already blind in one eye, but as a result of the vicious attack, he also lost the sight of the other eye. For all of this Barry was sentenced to five years in jail, but he was back out in two years.

On October 8, 2007, Barry struck again. This time he murdered Manula Riedo, a 17-year-old Swiss student who had come to this country just three days earlier to learn English. We can only imagine the torture that her parents have suffered in losing their only child.

In addition to the horrific grief inflicted on her parents, think of the message this sends to the world about the safety of tourists in Ireland. This country had been attracting thousands of continental students to come here to learn English.

In 1997, when the Fianna Fáil element of the current Government first came to power, the party was promising zero tolerance and savaging the outgoing Minister for Justice, Nora Owen, who lost her Dáil seat in that election. This was the first in another whole series of confidence tricks, but confidence in Fianna Fáil is now at an all-time low.

The Irish Examiner suggested last week that politicians should get out of their cars and walk down the main streets of their towns and count the number of businesses that have closed.

I did it this week in Tralee and was staggered to find that 23 ground-floor business premises were shut on the length of the main street running east-west, but then on the various streets leading off in the north-south directions, there were a further 80 empty premises. Those included four public houses that have gone out of business.

Yet there is a lot of reckless talk about raising money by increasing taxes on the “old reliables.” The pubs are already in trouble and raising their prices won’t bring in extra money. It will shut more pubs and increase unemployment.

Brian Lenihan has already admitted the last VAT increase cost the State more than €700 million because people simply avoided that tax by going North to shop. During the last recession we eventually learned the best way of raising money was by lowering tax. Indeed, slashing the corporate tax gave birth to the Celtic Tiger.

This week the Government defeated a Fine Gael motion to cut the number of junior ministers by up to seven. Ministers have been saying they are going to slash spending, but they have shown little willingness to cut their own spending.

“This motion constitutes one-thousandth of what is needed,” Minister of State for Children Barry Andrews declared on behalf of the Government. “I cannot then but wonder why we are having a three-hour debate on such a minor issue during a time of serious crisis in this country.”

What was his message — they are not going to cut even one-thousandth of their own spending? Barry Andrews already demonstrated his usefulness last year when he did not even bother to read the report about child abuse in the Cloyne diocese. Bishop John Magee has been sidelined because he did not act on the report, but the Minister of State of Children continues on sublimely.

He showed he was out of touch by not reading the report and Government has further demonstrated its disconnect with reality by using him as its spokesman on the issue of the junior ministers. No one was suggesting that any deputy should be made redundant. The proposal was that a half-a-dozen or so of the extra junior ministerial positions should be eliminated.

The Government is effectively laying off thousands of people, but don’t expect them to cut even one-thousandth of their extravagant perks. Bertie Ahern got a severance package of €68,000 just for stepping down as Taoiseach, and he will be entitled to €207,584 annually once he quits the Dáil. He will not even have to retire from working. He could make even more on the lecture circuit.

OF COURSE, this is not confined to members of Fianna Fáil; it is open to politicians of all parties. Most people have to retire before they can draw a pension, so why should politicians be any different?

Moreover, the expenses paid to politicians and many civil servants continue to bear little relationship to their real expenses. Those amount to tax-free perks.

Politicians who are over 65 are entitled to free rail and bus travel, but when they avail of this they are still entitled to claim the same travel expenses as if they paid. If the Government is serious about tightening up on expenses, it should eliminate the abuses by politicians immediately.

Faced with rising unemployment, higher taxes, reduced services and a Government that refuses to lead by giving proper example, we may be on the cusp of a very dangerous situation.

Noel Whelan, who has never hidden his admiration for Fianna Fáil, recently predicted there would be a general election in June as a result of violence.

In the past, emigration always provided a safety valve for the economic ineptitude of any government, but that is now closed off by the global situation. If the Government tries to introduce savage cuts without giving leadership by demonstrating that the politicians are prepared to share in the pain, we could be in for serious trouble.