Power must be held to account — now

If there’s summer school or even a short weekend course for would-be government leaders in democratic countries it should have on its timetable a session about an aphorism attributed, although the context is disputed, to a UK prime minister, Harold Macmillan.

Asked what he thought might blow his administration off course, “Events, dear boy, events” was his canny answer. In many cases, such events in government and business, too will be heralded by the din of cackling chickens coming home to roost.

The catastrophically stupid collateralised debt obligation wheeze which was cooked up by American banks and which resulted in the 2008 crash comes to mind, as does London’s Grenfell Tower tragedy and yet again our economy’s Celtic Tiger era.

More fallout from that brush with economic lunacy has fallen this week onto the desks of the Taoiseach and other ministers, following the closure of three schools because of structural safety concerns, and the need to quickly carry out inspections of a further 40 built by Western Building Systems during those heady Tiger years.

Mr Varadkar says he and his officials are “working night and day” on the problem.

The country would expect nothing less, since the timing could mean a large number of school closures at a crucial period for Junior and Leaving Certificate pupils.

Asked how many might have to be shut down, the education minister says it’s “guesstimate territory”; asked if there were any obvious alternative sites or arrangements for thousands of school-less children, Taoiseach says no, there aren’t any … at least not yet. They’re honest answers, but less than encouraging.

Along with the often careless business culture that prevailed during those boom years come the questions about the extent to which the state was, or was not, ensuring compliance with its building and safety regulations. There are two varieties of infrastructure in a modern economy: The hard one comprising schools, hospitals, power stations, prisons and the rest, and the soft one that runs systems designed — as building regulations are to ensure safety.

How confident can Ireland be in the quality of its vital soft infrastructure overseen by politicians and civil servants when it is disclosed that not only that the company at the heart of the scandal is continuing to build schools for the state but also that safety inspections of its buildings have been sub-contracted to an “independent” business that was involved in the construction of some parts of the buildings. In whose book does that get anywhere close to independent scrutiny?

This scandal investigated and reported thoroughly by the Irish Examiner has been with us for a decade, and clearly we’re not going to be shot of it any time soon. There will be questions for the government, and the civil service, to answer after the problems arising from the school shutdowns have been dealt with.

Meanwhile, drama teachers in those schools that are open and looking for a topical theme might want to introduce pupils to Arthur Miller’s dark 1947 drama All My Sons.

Heavily influenced by ancient Greek drama and based on a true story about defective work signed off with fatal consequences, it makes us think about moral and legal responsibility … and retribution.