Fine Gael convention - We are all tired of the empty vows

THE long-promised reform of Irish politics appears to have been put on ice, judging by the jaded tenor of the familiar knock-em-down-and-drag-em-out battle for the hearts and minds of the Irish electorate which got underway in earnest at the Fine Gael convention in Castlebar over the weekend.

The tone of what is to come was set in the opening salvo from Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s keynote speech, in which he resorted to the old tactic of promising there would be no more tax hikes.

Arguably because there’s nothing left to tax.