Irish Examiner View: Double-speak is alive and well

State Papers reveal the euphemisms government departments used in the past

Malcolm Tucker (played by Peter Capaldi) in The Thick of It would be proud of the double-speak that appears in some of our State papers.

The discovery in the State Papers of a guide to double-speak might have come from the script of Yes Minister or The Thick of It, the TV comedy series that satirised the inner workings of government.

As is so often the case, the truth is more colourful than fiction. Secret papers released from the State Archive reveal that officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs wrote a guide to answering queries from the public about family members trapped in Kuwait and Iraq in late 1990.

‘The Middle East Information Centre – Telephone Handbook’ carried the mordant subtitle: ‘Or How to Lie Convincingly’ and went on to quote a series of official statements alongside their real meaning. Here are two script-worthy examples:

Statement: The situation is tense but normal. Meaning: We haven’t got a clue what’s going on.

Statement: We are monitoring the situation. Meaning: We are watching the news.

How relevant that is today when the Department of Foreign Affairs is back in the spotlight after the publication of a photograph of a party in June 2020 that appears to flout public health guidelines at the time.

The Department said that they had “let their guard down”. Meaning: “We thought nobody would find out,” to adopt the attitude of the department’s black-humoured forebears. How might we interpret the rest of the Department’s statement: “Lessons have been learned”? There will be no consequences, perhaps?

Double-speak and the vocabulary of obfuscation are still alive and well, alas.