Fine Gael’s two-bit election promises are sadly reminiscent of Fianna Fáil

THE Government has cheapened itself with two-bit election promises from which it will be very difficult to recover, even if the election results are not as disastrous as they have been dreading.

At the conclusion of these European and local campaigns, it won’t be too far- fetched to speculate as to whether or not the Government invited in an old Fianna Fáil hand to advise them on how to conduct themselves in the run-up to today’s polling. The thing is, though, that you’d be insulting the FFer, who would point, doubtless, to Fine Gael and Labour pre-election stunts as amateurish.

We won’t know, until after the weekend, whether or not the electorate have fallen for these old familiar tricks. The pity is that this behaviour was exactly what we had come to expect from Fianna Fáil, but not from this Government, which started off with such credibility and a huge store of political capital.

Remember Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s commitment, when the Coalition came into office, to “changing the way we do politics”?

Three years on, and we are watching him as he tries to buy our votes. The Taoiseach coined a wonderful phrase on RTÉ’s Six One news on Wednesday night, when he told Bryan Dobson: “We are not a government of perfection.” There was just a hint of passive aggression in there: In other words, we acknowledge our imperfection, but anyone expecting perfection was unreasonable in the first place.

During that interview, Mr Kenny was asked about the controversy over the withdrawal of medical cards. He did not want to give details on the plan to review the withdrawal of these cards, so as not to be accused of electioneering. He was, of course, engaging in that very act by signalling so strongly that there would be a softening of the new, stringent approach, which had been handled so badly the cuts seemed savage. Mr Kenny must have credited the viewers with little intelligence if he imagined they wouldn’t spot the spin.

All this time Mr Kenny has been telling us that austerity is necessary, and is the only way to get us back on our feet financially. The message we kept hearing was that there was simply no way of avoiding the suffering.

But, wait, what’s that? Ah, yes, the Government is doing poorly in the plethora of opinion polls preceding these elections. Suddenly, we need not be so stoic; suddenly, our suffering is just too much; suddenly, we are there to be bought. Cue a host of good news announcements and funding commitments.

These have covered a wide spectrum. There are the previously mentioned medical cards, the assistance to first-time house buyers, the €200m for spending on building projects, not to mention the €30m allocated for the redevelopment of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, in Cork. On top of that, we’ve had the grandly titled Construction 2020 plan for the resurrection of the building industry.

There have also been announcements of €5m funding for a Special Olympics facility at Abbotstown, in Dublin, as well as the expansion of the city bike-rental scheme, not to mention the extra funding for the pyrite remediation scheme.

The other man who has been sailing exceptionally close to the wind in terms of his credibility — hard-fought after his disastrous turn as Fine Gael leader — is Finance Minister Michael Noonan. There have been broad hints from him on the easing of the tax burden: for example, how budgetary measures could prevent the universal social charge (USC) increasing from 4% to 7% for some taxpayers, as scheduled.

When discussing this, Mr Noonan referenced how it had been the Fianna Fáil-led Government that had agreed the reduced USC rate, as part of a deal struck with Independent TDs for political support. Under the 2011 Finance Bill, the concession will end on January 1, 2015. “We’re very conscious of the issue,” Mr Noonan told journalists.

Oh, Michael, what are we to think, when even you have got caught up in this madness? The finance minister was apparently roped into this pre-election frenzy a little reluctantly. But even that knowledgement does not help the feeling that his reputation as the “sound man” of the Coalition, who won’t see us wrong, has been damaged.

The feeling of déjà vu here is enhanced by the backdrop of overheating property markets in Dublin, Cork and Galway, with a severe shortage of family homes on the market. Where I live, in Dublin, in recent months you’d wonder if a house is riddled with dry rot if a sale agreed sign doesn’t appear over the for sale sign within a fortnight. The queues are appearing again for house viewings. It’s just like the good old days.

The severe homelessness crisis is something quite new, at least in the public consciousness. Jan O’Sullivan, the housing minister, coincidentally announced an action plan this week, but why was this not dealt with earlier? How did we reach a point where it is being proposed that homeless families be accommodated in former Garda stations and army barracks?

The water charge has been a source of serious anger against politicians canvassing voters in recent weeks. These charges have been on the agenda since the Troika programme was agreed in 2010.

IT IS quite a political feat to have the wrangling between Fine Gael and Labour over the charges coincide with the election campaign. Pity the Fine Gael and Labour canvassers left with no coherent explanation to give to seriously annoyed punters about what they will actually be paying for water.

Then, as if there wasn’t enough bad stuff going on, the ghost of former justice minister Alan Shatter came back to haunt the campaign. There was never any real doubt but that he would waive his €70,000 severance fee after resigning from Cabinet, but, as ever, it was on his terms. How he must have enjoyed the few days of speculation, while his party colleagues were gnashing their teeth in frustration at it even being under discussion. How wonderful the notion that the Taoiseach spoke to his former minister on Wednesday afternoon, but didn’t raise the issue of the €70,000 — talk about the former minister having the man who had just forced him out of office over a barrel. According to the Taoiseach, the elephant in the room was ignored during their conversation, “because he’ll do the right thing anyway, I expect”. Ah, Alan, recalcitrant to the end.

Whatever happened to the Government that waved a triumphant goodbye to the troika before Christmas, and trumpeted the achievement of our regained economic sovereignty? Back then, it was easy to imagine that these elections would be used by the voters, as is usual in mid-term elections, as an opportunity to inflict a few wounds.

But it was also expected that the Government would attempt to take control of the news agenda by pushing the issue of the economy and their own competence. The Government’s claim that 1,200 jobs a week are being created, for instance, is a proud one, but in the overwhelmingly negative atmosphere that has dominated these past few weeks, messages such as this have just got lost. Instead, it’s been a downward spiral.

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