Election fallout - Coalition made pay for arrogance

It took the devastating results of the recent elections to make Fianna Fáil and its Government partner, the Progressive Democrats, realise what they were being repeatedly told - they were not listening to the people.

But the collective voice of an indignant and exasperated electorate, bent on retribution, cannot now be ignored.

Let there be no doubt about it, last Friday was payback time for the people and the voters relished the opportunity to do so through the ballot box.

It would have been extraordinary had it been otherwise. While the Government expected a mid-term electoral reaction, it could not have anticipated the catastrophe which was delivered to them all over the country.

Bad vote management may have affected Fianna Fáil’s performance in some areas, but the predominant factors which contributed to the Government’s pounding at the polls was the arrogance and sleight-of-hand taxes they introduced and a wanton disregard of the taxpayers’ money they have flaunted since their return to power.

Immediately, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern announced there would be a major reshuffle of his Cabinet in September, in what was obviously a knee-jerk reaction to the cascade of bad news from the count centres over the weekend.

It will take more than a Cabinet reshuffle to regain the ground which Fianna Fáil and the PDs lost, through persistent arrogance and impugning the integrity of the people, which has been characteristic of this administration.

That arrogance was reflected by the fact that before the elections Tánaiste Mary Harney was recklessly predicting a doubling of seats for the PDs.

Instead, they bore the anger of the electorate, as did Fianna Fáil, and both parties need to learn the acute lesson that people will tolerate indifference and presumptuousness only for so long.

A chastened Mr Ahern, having described the election as having been a “serious rebuff”, also announced that he was not going to Brussels and would lead his party into the next Government.

While he would, no doubt, revel in conceivably leading Fianna Fáil into a third successive government with himself as Taoiseach, the reality could be otherwise.

The hostile reaction from the electorate which the Government provoked has also produced the genesis of a viable alternative government.

Fine Gael has emerged from the polls in a far stronger position than had been predicted and could be the focal energy for a government with the Labour Party and probably the Greens.

It would be disingenuous to disagree with FG leader Enda Kenny when he described his party’s performance in the local and European elections as a “massive” achievement. Mr Kenny hopes to discuss tactics and strategy as soon as possible with the leaders of the Labour Party and the Greens so as to agree a programme for an alternative government.

It is important that the momentum for change indicated in these latest polls be maintained and that the good of the country be the driving force behind it.

What is clarion clear is that the electoral playing pitch has been seriously re-aligned in favour of a realistic alternative government to challenge the FF-PD Coalition at the next general election.

It is good for democracy in this country that such should be the case.