Madam, – The House of Commons is in session. The Scottish parliament is also in session and one of its first items of business was a ministerial statement on the impact of the severe weather in Scotland.
Yet, here we are in the independent Republic of Ireland, with one crisis coming on top of another, the country almost at a standstill, schools closed, the citizenry trapped in their homes – and what do we find? The Dáil is in recess and the Minister for Transport went on holiday.
The governing parties cry for reform of this and reform of that, yet stubbornly, defiantly almost, refuse to radically reform their own method of doing business – length of Dáil terms, number of TDs and senators, number of junior ministers, allocation of civil servants to ministers and junior ministers, expenses, pensions, use and allocation of State cars – the list is a long one.
Yes, there has been some tinkering with the system, but what level of crisis, what degree of public outrage will it take to bring about substantial change?
There may be a shortage of grit for our roads but our politicians show plenty of grit when it comes to resisting reform.
It seems that to survive the cold wind of public dissatisfaction in this country all one needs is a brass neck and a brazen face. – Yours, etc,