McCabe debacle speeds up clock on Kenny departure

World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

The “golden rule” for political survival in the face of a media frenzy was supposedly conceived by Tony Blair’s spin-meister Alastair Campbell – and it’s the premise that if the story dominates the headlines for nine days running, then you won’t survive the onslaught, and you will have no choice but to fall on your sword.

Another master of the dark arts, Karl Rove, put it differently – when you are explaining you are losing.

The controversy over the scurrilous unfounded sex-abuse slurs made against Maurice McCabe has eclipsed everything else now for more than a week with that nine-day threshold in sight.

Against that, nobody really resigns in Ireland until they have backed themselves into a cul-de-sac and there is no way out.

Unlike the US where Michael Flynn this week departed from the National Security Adviser job only weeks after being appointed. In Britain, if there is a whiff of cordite in your vicinity, the trapdoor is pulled and you are gone.

But in Ireland we kick everything to touch, clinging to the fig leaf of some kind of public inquiry. Everything is put into suspension until the inquiry concludes.

Commissions of Investigation are one thing. But a Tribunal of Inquiry is a horse of a different colour. By the time it reports, all of the main players will have moved on.

The bill to the State will be millions. And the report will be greeted with mild curiosity, as if you were seeing an exhibit of aspic that gave you a reminder of life long ago.

What happened to McCabe is a scandal. But it has to be dealt with in a manner that is urgent and expeditious and timely (and does not end up costing the State hundreds of millions of euro).

But what we got was a tribunal auction, with the spineless populists (the whole lot of them but Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin to the fore) all clamouring over one another to call for one. The report will be of historic value only, meaningless in the context of reform or correction.

What was inflicted on the McCabe family was beyond terrible. The manner in which it was handled by Tusla was disgraceful.

The same could be said of the HSE. A false allegation of rape arose because of an “administrative error”. It was unforgivable. And then the false allegation was allowed fester even after it became known there was no basis for it.

It beggars belief that McCabe then came to be contacted to be told he was a potential risk to children. But sadly it happened.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.