That was the week that was (so it was)

It was an interesting and illuminating week on Irish TV and Radio and if we were ever in doubt of what our glorious leaders thought, the Fianna Fáil front line left us in no doubt where their priorities lie.

Early in the week, on the Today show on RTE Radio 1 we got to the bottom of the real problem that faces the country today, global economic downturn be-damned. The real quandary that Ireland faces ‘going forward’ (and it seems that FF Ministers know only one direction) is the RTE bias against Fianna Fáil.

There you have it, solve that one and we’ll all be grand. Sure this whole ‘crisis’ nonsense is all a conspiracy by the liberal meeja to undermine the fantastic work that Fianna Fáil and their trusty sidekicks the PD’s (may the Lord grant them eternal rest) have done managing the economy over the past ten years. Pat Kenny had the temerity to ask “Since when has property become a dirty word with Fianna Fáil?” The question was directed at Government Chief Whip Pat Carey who, clearly shocked that someone would ask such an insolent and obtuse question, spluttered “It seems that Fianna Fáil has become a dirty word with RTÉ as well.”

Whilst Kenny is more boring than a Christmas party of accountants when he is on TV, he is at his best when covering politics and current affairs on the radio. His unconcealed anger with the ridiculousness of FF, the builder’s party, imposing a tax on the owners of the blight of second homes around the countryside; “I just can’t take the hypocrisy of people who are hand-in-glove with developers . . . At least call it a tax if it’s a tax” was without a doubt the best piece of radio thus far this year.

Never fear though, because Carey assured us that “The government hasn’t even begun to examine the issue of tax on second homes.” What more could the country ask for from its’ leaders? FF has its head, ostrich-like firmly in the sand, so there’s no need to worry.

Take that, Liberal Media.

In the Dáil the mask began to slip even further and we got a clear vision of what motivates the major party in government: Power.

In response to some very relevant queries about the quality of the leadership being shown in the face of the worst economic crisis in the history of the state, Brian Cowen finally showed some urgency and emotion. Was there a light at the end of the leadership tunnel? Unfortunately, no: the urgency was to shout down the opposition rather than to lead the country and the emotion was anger: “…as long as I am running this Government I will run it as I see fit and as I believe, based on my philosophy.”

Oh how we wish you would lead Brian, how we wish you would (or could.) We also wish that we knew what your philosophy was, but apparently the whole social partnership model hinges on keeping all details far from the prying eyes of the pesky electorate and their representatives in the Dáil and Seanad.

So what do the people of the country make of it all? On Liveline the usual bundle of reactionary lunatics were thick on the ground, with the owners of second houses around the country apoplectic at the thought of a tax on their second, third fourth or fifth homes. It’s always the little guy who gets hit the worst, isn’t it Joe?

The most interesting barometer of public opinion came on Questions & Answers early in the week, on the topic of social partnership and economic revival. The audiences antipathy towards the government was clear, but the improbable figure who captured the zeitgeist of public feeling, was Alan “Captain Kirk” Shatter, whose three minute rant at Deirdre de Burca, the Green Parties Spokesperson on Children (presumably, as a party, they are for them) was some of the most astute political analysis of the past ten years, as well as being gratifyingly acerbic and hilarious all at once:

“…there isn’t a single financial projection, that this government has come up with that they’ve got right, and my concern about the discussions that are taking place behind the hallowed walls of government building at the moment is that the lead players… are composed of a Taoiseach who is incompetent and no-one has confidence in, a Minister for Finance who is out of his depth, and a Tánaiste who, who might have made a fine Minister for Agriculture, but quite clearly knows nothing about her brief.”

The analysis brought stunned silence from most of the audience, but a large section of the audience laughed heartily out loud. Better than the alternative I suppose.

De Burca hummed and hawed, and thankfully for her managed to avoid the question of the competence of the “triumvirate of thicks” (Alan’s sentiments, not mine I assure you.) After waffling about ‘The Green Agenda’ (we assume that she’s for that too, though from the vagaries of her answer we couldn’t be too sure) for a minute or so, Alan Shatter turned his attentions to leadership of the Green party, musing that “You have a leader of your party who is so obsessed with light bulbs that he didn’t realise that the banks were going down” as if it had only occurred to him just then and he wanted to share it with us all.

By now the laughter was less controlled and a quick pan shot of the audience could not have been more in contrast with the stony face of Senator De Burca.

That no FF TD could make it to the discussion on the economy on Questions and Answers was unfortunate for the hapless Green Party Senator. They were, we were told, at a Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting, no doubt discussing the most pressing topic of our time; the RTE bias against Fianna Fáil.

(See the replay here; http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0126/qanda.html Question 1, about 20 minutes in.)