TDs, change the things you can for the better and accept things you can’t

DEAR Government Backbencher, 2012 wasn’t exactly the best year of your life, was it?

Mon, 31 Dec, 2012 - 00:00

Terry Prone is an author, columnist and one of Ireland's most well known commentators on communications, politics and public life.

Mary Harney said the worst day in Government beat the best day in opposition, but that’s if you’re a minister. Currently, being an opposition backbencher is a better option than at almost any time in the past 50 years. There’s so few of them, it’s easy to shine, whether in a committee or in quotations in newspaper reports.

Over on your side of the Dáil, in sharp contrast, so many of you mill around that being the shining exception is enormously difficult. A quick look at coverage for the last year shows that, if you’re a backbench member of this huge majority Government, the way to stick out is either by saying something you really shouldn’t have said or by ending up in court for doing something you really shouldn’t have done. The third way is unintended low comedy. You can get yourself some transient headlines if you’re prepared to take on the Cabinet with some deeply held theory of your own, or be the predictable headbanger on any controversial issue.