Court of public opinion can be less forgiving than the real one

World of Politics with Harry McGee

It was Albert Reynolds who memorably observed: “It’s the little things that trip you up.” His ‘little things’ forced his resignation as Taoiseach back in 1994 – although it’s sometimes more of the final straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Look at his own Government’s fall, which started with long delays in the extradition of a notorious paedophile priest, Brendan Smyth.

Reynolds survived that controversy – but what pushed him over the edge was the Duggan case, another case which involved extradition and an alleged delay.

The details of it were very obscure and it turned out – months after – there were no delays and the Duggan case had been handled adequately.

But the fact there was a new ‘controversy’ was enough to convince people there was a political malaise and topple an already weakened leader.

It’s the same for more recent controversies. Can people remember why Frances Fitzgerald was forced to resign in 2017 off the top of their heads? Or Alan Shatter back in 2014 or what the famous report by barrister Sean Guerin was all about and what it said about him? Shatter even took a successful case against that report after his resignation.

They follow similar patterns. A controversy erupts. It escalates. The atmosphere becomes febrile and for those caught in the middle, it feels like a witch-hunt. In the end, something tiny is enough to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

When controversies like these happen, logic often goes out the window. The same goes for Golfgate. When all the shouting has died down, these things often turn out to be less than the sum of the parts. Sometimes you wonder, ‘what was all that about’?

That’s not to say Golfgate was not wrong because it was. The rules had changed that week and three counties had gone into lockdown.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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