Storm clouds still on the horizon for Government

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

The new storm names came into play this week – even if the world of Irish politics is still picking up the pieces after Storm Dara and Storm Phil. And whatever about the prevailing winds, the question now is whether or not we’re in for another autumn of discontent.

Governments are elected to lead – not to be led – but since the summer this regime has been led by the nose, reacting to the public mood rather than making strong decisions, be they right or wrong.

Fianna Fáil has had a disastrous start to government and is floundering at the moment. It has already lost two Ministers – a disaster in itself. Two of the other ministers, Norma Foley and Stephen Donnelly, are in very difficult departments and have made some blunders in terms of finding their feet.

Micheál Martin himself has had to deal with a second surge of the virus but just does not seem to have had the same authority or acumen as Leo Varadkar when talking to the public about it.

His first priority was of course to deal with Covid-19 – and that’s an all-hands-on-deck situation. Then you have to deal with the fall out and the economic consequences, which will be huge.

I dread to think of what’s going to happen in the winter and the spring as hundreds of businesses realise they have no future and they will have to shutter up permanently.

Somehow, Martin needs to be able to set out what he wants to do; his vision. I’m sure he wants to leave a legacy besides the current one – the Minister who brought in the smoking ban in Ireland.

It’s a tall order – but so is being in government at the best of times, and he needs to set out his big ideas as well as everything else.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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