Punch drunk government hopes voters are on the sauce

Bradley Bytes – A sort of political column by Dara Bradley

Belting itself with near knockout blows, the Government’s incompetence was surpassed only by its arrogance last year.

The self-inflicted wounds are as numerous as flies on fresh cow dung – too many to count.

But controversy followed cock-up as Garda whistleblowers, medical cards, Irish Water and a whiff of ‘jobs for the boys’ in the Seanad John McNulty affair soured the political agenda in 2014.

The Government was punch drunk pretty much for all of last year.

And one Galway Government backbencher is hoping the electorate was fully drunk when it gave its verdict in recent opinion polls on the Government parties.

A series of polls in December and January put Labour teetering on the brink of extinction, and Fine Gael facing the humiliation of being relegated to the third largest party, after Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil.

The results prompted Galway East Fine Gael TD, Paul Connaughton to pray that the electorate was under the influence of mind altering substances when the pollsters called.

Repeating a pathetic political cliché – “Opinion polls are a snapshot in time” – Small Paul then gave an insight into the ‘close your eyes and hope for the best’ political strategy that must now be rife among lowly backbenchers.

“I hope the last three polls were taken at 6 in the morning after a night out!! #MustDoBetter”.

Dev Óg a dead cert

Whether the electorate is drunk or not, Éamon Ó Cuív, the Fianna Fáil TD, probably has the safest Dáil seat in Ireland, if the bookmakers are to be believed.

The Galway West representative and former deputy leader of the party is priced at 1/80 with John Mulholland, the local bookmakers, to win a seat in the constituency at the next General Election.

That means you need to bet €80 in order to win €1.

Handy money but it’s hardly worth the bother.

Even in 2009, when Fianna Fáil hit rock bottom and so called ‘heavy hitters’ in the party were dropping like flies in election count centres around the country, Dev Óg’s support, though there was some slippage, remained fairly constant.

Unsurprising then that the bookies have him favourite to top the poll in Galway West, although it’s not necessarily something Ó Cuív will be happy to see, as complacency among voters is now his biggest threat. That and his rivals and colleagues telling voters his seat is safe.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.