Ministers should be exercised about Reilly’s perceived bias

WHAT does it say about our political system when the minister who publicly rails against cronyism, and raises concerns about the failure of government to deliver its pre-election promises, is the one being treated like a pariah by her colleagues?

Speaking in Mar 2011, following the publication of the final report of the Moriarty Tribunal, Taoiseach Enda Kenny gave a fiery speech to the House in which he extolled the long ignored merits of ethics and probity and lambasted the culture of “arrogant, mercenary and immoral politics that almost ruined [the country]”.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore was also a firebrand on the subject, telling delegates at this year’s Labour party conference, “the surest way to keep corruption at bay is to lead a new kind of politics in our country. Politics with one single, unwavering principle: to serve the people, all of the people, and only the people.”