Question-dodging is a bit Irish

Like the rest of the people in this country, I am interested in how the nation is being run by those elected to represent us in the Dáil.

I am 16 years old and the one thing I always notice is the inability of a person who makes important decisions for this country to answer a simple question, like “How much will it cost to build this new road?” for example.

They always end up going off on a tangent for five minutes on how the benefits of building the road far outweigh the disadvantages, throw in a few statistics and figures, and (s)he’s succeeded in waffling through the question without giving us a proper answer.

A simple “It costs €200m” would have done fine. You see it in the Dáil, you see it on Prime Time, you see it on the news. Why can’t they just answer the question!

However, it’s not just politicians. My grandmother is after coming out of hospital, where she had her knee replaced in a ‘successful’ operation, according to the surgeons. But her foot is now completely numb and she walks with a pretty bad limp that wasn’t there before.

Now, how can a 74 year-old woman who swam five times a week and now can barely walk, call that surgery a success?

Just like all the high-ranking officials in this country, the second some doctors are asked a question about something they did in the past, they just come up with an answer that we know is wrong,

Why do so many people in this country have to be so Irish? Just answer the question!

Cian O’Neill

Cork City