Bankrolling politics - Influence not funding is the issue

A GREAT majority of the conversations about politics in Ireland have grown stale.

They have had a similar, predictable choreography for far too long. Most open up with a sigh of resignation, wondering how much worse things might get before they might get better.

The next stage usually involves scathing criticism of the incumbents. They are accused of being at best arrogant, worn out and out of touch; they are accused of beggaring the country, of putting the interests of big business before ordinary people’s and of doing little or nothing to create the jobs hundreds of thousands of people crave.