Ministers producing political carrots

With election fever in the air and polling day only four weeks away, Fine Gael and Labour ministers were producing political carrots like rabbits from the proverbial magician’s hat yesterday — precisely what the vanquished Soldiers of Destiny did when Fianna Fáil was in power.

Early in the morning, for instance, the new Regional Aid Map was unveiled by Jobs and Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton. Effectively, it shows that under EU rules the Government can give financial backing to business and job creation projects in every part of the country, except Dublin and Cork. Presumably, because they already have a generous share of foreign companies, despite also enduring some of the Republic’s worst unemployment black-spots.

True to form, the well-oiled spin doctors immediately swung into action as the party’s PR machine rolled out a more localised statement from Martin Heydon, TD for Kildare South, welcoming the development as “great news for the greater Athy region” which stretches all the way from Wicklow to the Laois border. The stuff of electioneering Irish-style, he reminded voters he had “lobbied the minister for investment in this area on several occasions”.