Fuel taxes are now part of the problem

The stoicism shown by the majority of people in the face of collapsing standards of living, soaring unemployment, vanishing opportunity, resurgent emigration, and unmanageable national and personal debt has been considerable.

In contrast, even if in a relatively minor way, someone in Fine Gael showed an unfortunate disconnection from reality by arranging a self-congratulatory knees-up to make the party’s first year in Government.

At least the proposal was quickly dropped when it was realised how inappropriate and juvenile it all was. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to know how far up the command chain the idea had climbed before it was knocked on the head.