FF Ard Fheis - Economy not the sole mark of progress

AS delegates assemble in Killarney this weekend for the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis, they have every reason to be in a reflective mood.

Amid boastful claims by the Government that Ireland is one of the richest countries in Europe, if not the world, the public is mostly cognisant of wasteful cost over-runs, arrogance and a denial of ultimate responsibility as being characteristic of this administration.

Grimly, the Ard Fheis gathers with the country still in shock at the unnecessary death of Patrick Walsh and the appalling circumstances which led to his demise.

His death is symptomatic of something fundamentally wrong in an extremely wealthy country when basic medical care can be denied, even though the treatment to prevent such a travesty existed but was not available because of bureaucratic red tape.

The Health Services Executive (HSE) has accepted responsibility for his death but ultimately the responsibility must be laid at the door of the Government that tolerated the policy that caused it.

As the next general election looms, Fianna Fáil has every reason to be worried, and its disastrous results from the local and European elections last year ought to be a painful and chastening warning.

The party’s vote was reduced by nine percentage points nationally in those elections from the 41% of the general election just two years earlier.

It was reflected in the 80 seats lost in the local elections, while at the same time the party lost one third of its seats in the European Parliament.

That outcome may be dismissed by the party as its electoral support having indulged itself locally and, now that voters’ aggravation has been expunged, they will return docilely and do the expected at national level.

With its long tenure in government as the majority party, Fianna Fáil might well be tempted to harbour such thoughts, but it would be folly to do so.

There is a palpable mood of anxiety throughout the country at aspects of the performance of this administration, not least of which is that economic success would appear to be the only standard by which progress is measured.

Obviously, the economy should be managed well, but it is self-defeating if that prosperity is not expressed across the community at large - and it most certainly is not.

Despite its much-flaunted wealth, this country stands shamefully exposed this week as spending less to safeguard our poor, sick and vulnerable citizens than the vast majority of EU countries.

Alongside a hugely expensive but inadequate health service is unconscionable waste, as evidenced by the €150 million PPARS debacle in the HSE which saw consultants paid a massive €60m.

It was one of the latest disgraceful cost over-runs in major government projects which Finance Minister Brian Cowen has belatedly moved to control.

It would be reassuring to conclude that economic prudence led the minister to announce major reforms in this area, but it would be more accurate to say that public outrage at such profligacy with taxpayers’ money eventually was listened to and acted on.

Public opinion is a factor which Fianna Fáil may ignore, but only at its peril.