Irish Examiner view: Politicians are living in 'cloud cuckoo land' 

The Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána are doing their best to make the streets safe but people have no appetite for politicians denying the evidence of their own eyes

After a string of violent assaults in Dublin, Justice Minister Helen McEntee stated the capital was safe and was pictured walking the streets of the capital, accompanied by gardaí. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

It is a perennial problem for governments. Within the bubble those in power can convince themselves they are succeeding, that progress is being made, that their achievements are being noted.

Outside that bubble, however, the public may have a very different view of the administration’s competence.

There was a good example of this last week when the British secretary of education was caught on a live microphone wondering if her government could be ‘thanked’ for what it has achieved — a curious wish, and one that drew a predictably hostile response.

As revealed yesterday by this newspaper, there was a hostile response recently to a misstep from an Irish politician as well. After a string of violent assaults in Dublin, Justice Minister Helen McEntee stated the capital was safe and was pictured walking the streets of the capital, accompanied by gardaí.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act now reveal that members of the public reacted furiously to McEntee’s walkabout, contacting her department to register their anger. 

Some accused her of living in ‘cloud cuckoo land’ when it came to crime in Dublin; others recounted frightening experiences they had had in the city, saying it was not safe.

This situation could be a case study in the traditional contrast between Government projection and public perception: What happens when the Government believes that stating its position is persuasive, only to find the experience of the public is at odds with that position.

In this particular case, perception is also important — the growing belief that Dublin is now less safe is a difficult one for the Government to counter because such beliefs are resistant to data and are nourished instead by anecdotal evidence.

Clearly, the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána are doing their best to make the streets safe in very difficult circumstances. However, it’s equally clear that the public has no appetite for politicians denying the evidence of their own eyes and experience.

Plan for cooler schools

There was a time when one could practically set a watch by the arrival of a period of good weather just as children returned to school. The current hot spell, and the possibility of 30C heat in particular, might seem an extreme version of those Indian summers if not for our awareness of climate change.

Such temperatures are likely to become the norm rather than the exception in years to come, and dusting off school bags for autumn may come to be associated with searing heat.

This raises an obvious question: How are Irish schools equipped to deal with these extreme temperatures? Many of our schools were built decades go, long before climate change was on the agenda, and when environmental challenges were not part of the construction brief.

Will we need to take a leaf from Massachusetts, where some schools with ageing infrastructure have had to resort to installing mini-fridges in classrooms to keep pupils hydrated and cool in rising heat?

The challenge of water conservation in hot weather is also one that faces schools and other institutions. This week Irish Water issued a plaintive call asking people to try to conserve water all year round — but also instanced the annual return to school as a factor which puts pressure on the water supply system.

This week’s should be considered a warning rather than an exception. We must consider emulating California’s move towards more air filtration and cooling systems for schools, more solar panels, and more schoolyards with shade and appropriate landscaping. Accepting the need to change our schools to meet the climate crisis is a first step.

Leeside festivals

This week in Cork, the Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival gets going, a diverse celebration of the arts curated by Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National, Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy, playwright Enda Walsh, and Mary Hickson.

It is also an informal starting gun for an impressive range of festivals on Leeside. The 44th Cork Folk Festival begins on September 27 and goes on to October 1. At the end of that month, the Cork Jazz Festival takes over the bank holiday weekend (October 26-30). The Cork Film Festival, one of the oldest in the world, will run from November 9 to 26.

There are obvious economic benefits to any city from an influx of visitors who are keen on enjoying public events — those visitors must be accommodated, fed, and watered, and the financial boost is considerable. An accompanying hope is that those festivalgoers function as informal ambassadors for the city they have just visited when they return home.

Alongside those economic boosts is another potential fillip — a reputational one. A city with such an eclectic range of festivals over a couple of months can legitimately claim to be an outlet for a wide range of artistic expression, from mainstream music acts to lesser-known artistic practices.

This is an important element of any city’s make up. An openness to the creative community, as evidenced by a rich suite of festivals, can also be seen as an openness to innovation and novelty — a willingness to embrace new ideas and to welcome those who are interested in such ideas.

Such openness augurs well in other sectors also, such as education, innovation, and industry. Having a reputation as a location for festivals is no bad thing for any city.

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