Politicians’ holidays - Same story, same answer

THE criticisms are predictable and annual. The response is traditional but infuriatingly teflon-coated. It is so symptomatic of an imbedded, outdated and unacceptable culture – not just political – that holds this unfortunate country in a kind of death grip.

Yesterday, as he refused to cut short the Oireachtas summer break, Brian Cowen said it was “nonsense” to suggest the Government would be on holiday until nearly October. The Government may not be, but what about the opposition and the vast majority of backbenchers who may have nothing more productive to do than whine away at some irrelevant Dáil committee that can’t even get answers from those it interrogates?

Politicians of all colours have complained that they are held in low esteem and that their work is not understood or appreciated. They have watched as, year after year, fewer and fewer citizens bother to vote.

Yesterday they had an opportunity to challenge those perceptions, but they did not, preferring instead to undermine again the great idea and privilege of living in a representative democracy.