Arrogant Coalition fails to deliver

AS deputies depart the Dáil for three months it is timely to assess the record of the Coalition Government.

This Government has grown arrogant and secretive, punitive of people on the margins of society and resentful of the media's role as the public's eyes and ears.

In a tragic way, the shocking death of two-year-old Róisín Ruddle has epitomised the crisis in the health service. She died after being sent home from the national hospital for sick children because of a shortage of intensive care nurses caused by Government cutbacks.

Sadly, her young life was forfeited for the sake of €1,000 and surgeons have warned it could happen again.

Politically, despite his promises to overhaul the service, the ongoing crisis is eroding Health Minister Micheál Martin's leadership aspirations.

Financially, there is a compelling case for the Government to borrow in order to remedy major deficiencies in hospitals which would not be out of place in the Third World. If the Coalition could pull €40 million out of the hat to bail out Education Minister Noel Dempsey after his political gaffe on third-level fees, surely it could find money to save a child's life.

The Government has egg on its face after the sudden departure of Mr Justice Feargus Flood, whose tribunal lifted the lid on planning scandals, exposing corruption and bribery among politicians and property developers.

His resignation fuelled a major controversy over legal costs, leaving the taxpayer facing a claim of €10.5m by disgraced ex-minister Ray Burke. Doubtless, the public would welcome a more efficient and less costly investigative process, provided there is no attempt at political cover-up.

Thanks to repressive legislation, rammed through the Dáil days before it rose for the summer recess, the public will in future find it more difficult and costly to access basic information on decisions being made behind closed doors by ministers and civil servants. What, one wonders, have they got to hide?

Across the spectrum, disability groups are being victimised by swingeing Government cutbacks on basic services. Cynically, the Coalition is denying disabled people in Ireland their basic rights as citizens. Not content with that, on the international stage, in the name of the Irish people, it is actively blocking a UN charter on rights for disabled people.

Besides making a mockery of this Government's association with the Special Olympics, it also explains why Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was booed at the opening of the Games.

Prisoners would probably boo him too, judging by Mr Justice Dermot Kinlan's report calling for Mountjoy and Portlaoise jails to be demolished, a most revealing comment on the dead hand of the Department of Justice.

With Ireland generally acknowledged as the rip-off capital of Europe (largely due to Government stealth taxes), people struggling to make ends meet are understandably resentful over whopping pay rise for TDs €2,500 plus €3,000 in back money. By 2005, they will be raking in €80,000.

Though it should be feasible to measure the productivity of other public servants under benchmarking, how to assess the performance of politicians is a mystery. This Government has promised much but delivered little. Hopefully, they will do better after three months' holidays.