When going through my Leinster Leader archive I came accross this piece, written just before the General Election 2007. I was going to re-work it, but I decided that for old time’s sake, I’d leave it just the way it is….
This week I was reminded of the words of Shirley McLaine, ‘It is useless to hold a person to anything he says while he’s in love, drunk or running for office’. Yes, its general election time, time to pin your colours to the mast, put your money where your mouth is, and above all, cross your fingers and hope for the best…
The promises are flowing thick and fast-
‘Did we say last December that stamp duty was here to stay? Well it isn’t. No, its not that we changed our minds, its just that we had to save that particular hot potato for the election… and sure jaysus, it’s a good job we did or we wouldn’t have been able to announce plans for its abolition on the same day that yer man got into more hot water over his (lack of) bank accounts…’
You see politics in Ireland is like Hollywood for ugly people. Its artificial, seedy, riddled with crazy plots and bad scripts. Where evil versus marginally-less-evil in a storyline that you suspect you may have heard before. More importantly, try as you might, you can’t spot any of the good bits promised in the trailer actually happening in the full length feature…
It would be easy to be complacent about politics in the Ireland of today with our current low unemployment/high income status. Let’s face it, politics are not worrying this country half as much as where to find a parking space.
But it is now we should be at our most vigilant – you think they haven’t copped that we may have taken our eye off the ball? I’m sure they never expected us to get so het up over fifty grand – sure you’d nearly spend that on a telly these days… Maybe, but it’s still a lot of paper to be stashing under your mattress in the early nineties. If anyone else had given him a ‘dig out’ he’d have been scraping flakes of magnolia ceiling paint from his forehead every morning….
Ah now, give the man a break I hear you say, sure aren’t they all the same. And in all fairness, easy and all as it is to poke fun at politicians, it’s not a job that I would be queuing up for. Winston Churchill once said ‘Politics can be as exciting as war and almost as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, in politics, many times…’ And who can forget the awful sight of Nora Owen on that fateful day, watching as e-voting gleefully announced that she’d lost her seating without any prediction or warning. And even though poor Mary O’Rourke had her blow softened by a seat in the senate, she still speaks of her loss with a lump in her throat.
Long Dail holidays and brown envelopes aside, politicians are at the back and call of the public, not to mention having the pressure of foretelling what’s going to happen whilst at the same time needing the ability to explain why it didn’t. And as for all that door to door campaigning – if the Jack Russells don’t get you, the pensioners will… By May 24th, expect to see many bleary-eyed politicians, faces plastered with fake, weary smiles, blissfully unaware that they have started kissing hands and shaking babies.. The same poor divils only realizing that they are no longer in government when they get in the back of their car and it doesn’t go anywhere.
Sadly voter turnout has declined in recent years necessitating several campaigns aimed at encouraging the young people of Ireland to use their vote. Not that any of us should need any encouragement – the good times may not be here forever and by not voting now, you will have rescinded your right to complain for the next 1,825 days of your life.
Due to my own personal circumstances I have also started to think about the generation coming behind and about how any decisions that we make now, may affect them later. I have started to listen to the various party policies on Health, Crime and the Environment and then, based on the kind of Ireland I wish to live in, I will make my decision. But even after all that serious contemplation, I still can’t help feeling a certain affinity with Samantha from Sex and the City when she purred ‘Which political party do I support? Oh Sweetie, I just support parties…’
Though of course it should be borne in mind that the best party could leave you with the worst hangover…
The promises are flowing thick and fast-
‘Did we say last December that stamp duty was here to stay? Well it isn’t. No, its not that we changed our minds, its just that we had to save that particular hot potato for the election… and sure jaysus, it’s a good job we did or we wouldn’t have been able to announce plans for its abolition on the same day that yer man got into more hot water over his (lack of) bank accounts…’
You see politics in Ireland is like Hollywood for ugly people. Its artificial, seedy, riddled with crazy plots and bad scripts. Where evil versus marginally-less-evil in a storyline that you suspect you may have heard before. More importantly, try as you might, you can’t spot any of the good bits promised in the trailer actually happening in the full length feature…
It would be easy to be complacent about politics in the Ireland of today with our current low unemployment/high income status. Let’s face it, politics are not worrying this country half as much as where to find a parking space.
But it is now we should be at our most vigilant – you think they haven’t copped that we may have taken our eye off the ball? I’m sure they never expected us to get so het up over fifty grand – sure you’d nearly spend that on a telly these days… Maybe, but it’s still a lot of paper to be stashing under your mattress in the early nineties. If anyone else had given him a ‘dig out’ he’d have been scraping flakes of magnolia ceiling paint from his forehead every morning….
Ah now, give the man a break I hear you say, sure aren’t they all the same. And in all fairness, easy and all as it is to poke fun at politicians, it’s not a job that I would be queuing up for. Winston Churchill once said ‘Politics can be as exciting as war and almost as dangerous. In war you can only be killed once, in politics, many times…’ And who can forget the awful sight of Nora Owen on that fateful day, watching as e-voting gleefully announced that she’d lost her seating without any prediction or warning. And even though poor Mary O’Rourke had her blow softened by a seat in the senate, she still speaks of her loss with a lump in her throat.
Long Dail holidays and brown envelopes aside, politicians are at the back and call of the public, not to mention having the pressure of foretelling what’s going to happen whilst at the same time needing the ability to explain why it didn’t. And as for all that door to door campaigning – if the Jack Russells don’t get you, the pensioners will… By May 24th, expect to see many bleary-eyed politicians, faces plastered with fake, weary smiles, blissfully unaware that they have started kissing hands and shaking babies.. The same poor divils only realizing that they are no longer in government when they get in the back of their car and it doesn’t go anywhere.
Sadly voter turnout has declined in recent years necessitating several campaigns aimed at encouraging the young people of Ireland to use their vote. Not that any of us should need any encouragement – the good times may not be here forever and by not voting now, you will have rescinded your right to complain for the next 1,825 days of your life.
Due to my own personal circumstances I have also started to think about the generation coming behind and about how any decisions that we make now, may affect them later. I have started to listen to the various party policies on Health, Crime and the Environment and then, based on the kind of Ireland I wish to live in, I will make my decision. But even after all that serious contemplation, I still can’t help feeling a certain affinity with Samantha from Sex and the City when she purred ‘Which political party do I support? Oh Sweetie, I just support parties…’
Though of course it should be borne in mind that the best party could leave you with the worst hangover…