The end?

25th April, 2009

Things sometimes become clearer in retrospect. I say ‘sometimes’ carefully because the passage of even more time can disprove theories which at time of creation seemed robust and insightful. This caveat obviously applies to my own attempt to join up some different events from this week.


 

The first event is the Government passing the motion on Christmas bonuses with a very slim majority of 3. This was caused by 2 independent TDs goin AWOL and by a missing FF backbencher. The second event was the severe criticism of the Tanaiste by her former Minister of State, John McGuinness in the Daily Mail and on the Late Late show. The final event is the dithering of the Government over the timing of the Dublin bye-elections.

All of these things (in one week remember) make me really doubt whether this Government has the internal cohesion and discipline to survive for much longer.

The loss of political authority tends not be because of a single telling blow, but rather the relentless freying caused by self inflicted wounds. I think, this week, saw this freying mount to terminal levels. The end has
begun.