Political integrity - Credibility squandered needlessly

ON the scale of the humiliation of having to turn to Europe to pay our housekeeping bills, being treated with barely concealed contempt by those we elected to run this small island may seem unimportant but the shameless, transparent and plainly dishonest behaviour of our Taoiseach, and his willing accomplices in cabinet, over the past week is symptomatic of the culture that has landed us in this terrible, subservient position.

Mr Cowen imagines that he has been forthright – he has repeatedly insisted as much. Nevertheless, that he believes the buffoonery he and his colleagues indulged in while denying the possibility of a rescue package represents acceptable behaviour brings the alignment of his moral compass into question.

This braggadocio might be just the ticket for the Clara Arms Christmas Turkey Poker Classic but it has nothing to do with basic statesmanship or the administration of a modern democracy. Sadly, he was not alone.