Two populists who are set to lead

LAST week two party leaders, Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore, were branded as populists for proposing to get rid of the Seanad and “Junket” John O’Donoghue, respectively.

To be seen as a populist has been a bad thing since the Roman Republic, but why? If populism means putting the interests of the ordinary people above those of the political class, isn’t that what our elected leaders are supposed to be doing?

There is a depressing habit in all organisations that they, their members and privileges must be protected at all costs, even when criticisms are warranted and when the actions of some members bring the organisation into disrepute. The political class is no exception.