Rip Off Ireland: have PDs abandoned core values?
Stephen O’Byrnes and Tim O’Malley seem to think the programme has party political undertones which I believe to be a falsehood. The implication that the programme would have been different had it been Fine Gael or Labour in power is something I cannot imagine anybody swallowing except the excessively paranoid in FF and the PDs.
Disingenuous comparisons between the Fine Gael website and Mr Hobbs’ programme are a party political smokescreen. The energies of these complainants would be far better spent addressing the issues raised by the programme, but then I suppose it’s always easier to shoot the messenger.
The fact that the PD members making these claims are relatively low profile makes me think this may be a ‘testing of the waters’ exercise. Should this be pursued as a stance by the wider PD party it would be shameful betrayal of core party values that would make FF’s entry into coalition with them in 1989 pale into insignificance by comparison.
Mr Hobbs’ programme is a breath of fresh air that goes deeper than the typical soundbites we hear about the lack of competition in our economy. Mr O’Byrnes’ complaint is particularly regrettable given the political context of his appointment to the RTÉ Authority. It smacks of a below-the-waterline attack on free speech, in its own way as potentially dangerous as ex-minister Ray Burke’s involvement with RTÉ.
The basis for the complaints are odd when you consider that the programme clearly highlighted how Michael McDowell’s excellent efforts to introduce the café bar legislation were torpedoed by FF backbench vested interests.
Mr O’Malley said the show fails to point out advances made in the insurance industry and the national treatment purchase plan. Fair enough; but that seems to miss the point - the programme is not called ‘Non Rip Off Republic,’ is it? Nor would that make particularly interesting television.
I urge senior PD members to dissociate the party from these complaints. The programme is excellent and extremely valuable in a country where, until relatively recently, truths that were unpalatable to the powers-that-be were swept under the carpet.
I suppose we should be glad that it’s provoking ire from the political establishment. That means it’s hitting home.
Eddie Scully
Kenmare
Co Kerry
