A new Cabinet - Uninspiring rearguard action

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen’s new Cabinet could be described in a number of ways, few of them positive, fewer still inspiring. If you’re still a Fianna Fáil true believer it represents an imaginative use of resources that will get the country back on its feet in double quick time. It represents decisiveness and addresses the big issues of the day directly.

For the rest of us it is a holding position, a scrambling, rearguard action that may defer the seemingly inevitable but do nothing to avert it.

It is tempting to talk about White Star liners and beach furniture but we all needed something much more reassuring and uplifting than we got yesterday afternoon. Sadly, Mr Cowen did not provide it, he did not even hint at it. He did not even hint that he understood that it might be necessary.