Gormley should be taken with a pinch of salt

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley put on a petulant performance on RTÉ’s Prime Time (January 7) when Miriam O’Callaghan asked him about his own duties and those of others during the recent floods and blizzards.

Mr Gormley was at pains to point out that he was on top of his snowdrift – or maybe he said his job.

He was busily trying to “locate” salt, although we had snow since before Christmas. As the minister was asked about the location of the other minister (the one for transport) he shrugged off this audacious question and said he didn’t know.

Although the roads were hazardous and lives were lost because of icy surfaces, Mr Dempsey had decided to hightail it out of frozen Ireland and seek his place in the sun.

Mr Gormley didn’t say that, of course, but the print media did. Marie Antoinette’s apocryphal “let them eat cake” could be replaced by “let them buy 4x4s”, except that the Minister for the Environment is an enthusiast for carbon taxes. I’d be more keen on carbon dating so that some archaeologist could tell us the origins of this fossilised bunch we call a government which, unlike ordinary citizens, didn’t seem to listen to the weather forecasts that, night after night, informed us we should expect glacial conditions.

We now have to wait for the next election to put the skids under anyone seeking public office who doesn’t shape up to an extremely well-paid job.

Maureen O’Donnell

Haig Gardens

Ballinlough

Cork