Closer to the next election than we think

You really got to wonder if there wasn’t a back drop of Brexit would there have been an election long ago and would Leo Varadkar still be Taoiseach? In Britain the right wing media lambast Varadkar for as they see it stalling their departure from Europe.

Many people in Ireland will give him a pass on this one as Britain is in disarray and Irish citizens are getting used  to playing the role of the parent in the room as departure date approaches. Many suspend their judgement personally on Dr V which is a mistake.

One way or another 2019 will see the Brexit question resolved.  Eventually we will get back to our domestic politics. And when you look a bit closer at Fine Gael, all is not as it seems.

5 years ago Labour got it on the neck during the 2014 local elections. Three ministers in particular wound up the electorate; Phil Hogan over the shambles in Irish Water, Alan Shatter for his handling of the Garda whistle blowers controversy and James Reilly for cutting back medical cards to child victims of cancer. There was a common thread that ran through the criticism, information was handled poorly making the electorate angry.

To plug the holes Dr Varadkar gave a large budget to his spin unit once elected Taoiseach in the hope of improving his image. Then the unit was scrapped and once more we’re back to obfuscation and deliberate confusion. Varadkar’s stock response on each occasion is to threaten a general election. At some stage that bluff will be called. It hasn’t yet. Firstly it was Frances Fitzgerald who jumped rather than see a general election one Christmas on account of information that was contested. Next it was Denis Naughten who was behind the doors about releasing information on the national broadband plan. The latest minister in trouble is Simon Harris and how the over runs on the National Childrens Hospital came about and who knew what. Lurking in the background are more questions about what the Department of Public Expenditure knew.

When there are question marks about transparency, political trust diminishes. That’s why we are slowly but surely heading towards a General Election. It may sooner than we think, once Brexit is out of the way.

Whether the outcome will give a clearer picture in terms of forming a new government is another question.