Electorate may take its revenge for distracting and disruptive politics

THERE is something distinctly depressing in the fact the death knell to the “do-nothing Dáil” may have rung out in loud cheers and peals of laughter from the Dáil bar.

Those who are happy to take cheap shots at their elected representatives have been furnished with a complete new arsenal, as a grubby power-play is allowed to transcend the enormous problems our country faces.

To see those charged with running the country, so feckless with the national interest, barely two weeks from the most critical meeting in our four decades within the EU, is worrying in the extreme.

It is not a stretch to say Brexit will determine all our futures. Yet with the crunch meetings in sight we have no government in the North, political chaos in Dublin, and consternation in London. Rudderless, we are steering into the most treacherous of waters with anarchy on the bridge, as Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil play brinkmanship. Meanwhile, Fine Gael wrings its hands and the Taoiseach vows “no surrender”. Voters are entitled to expect more than either petulance or ruthless political opportunism.

As the thin threads which kept the Government together are rapidly fraying, there are duelling calls for votes of no confidence – let the country be damned. All the while, the fate of Frances Fitzgerald is being dangled about in an unedifying cliffhanger that, even by the standards of the pantomime season, has degenerated into low farce. We have a deficit of diplomacy and statecraft, and a surfeit of self-interest.

This is not a matter of principle, it is a matter of pride. Neither the pride of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar nor Micheál Martin is more important than the interests of those whom they purport to represent. Insistence on this entirely unnecessary election, and disproportionate demands for a political head, in a kindergarten game of one-upmanship, can only yield a pyrrhic victory. The public is not so easily deluded, and will not be tricked into accepting an election that is ill-timed and born out of stunt politics.

The tensions behind this standoff are unlikely to illicit much sympathy from the vast bulk of the population, busy with the burdens of keeping commitments to their families and getting on with the real business of living.

Mr Martin blames the crisis on the Government’s failure to adequately answer questions about the Sgt McCabe issue. But these critical answers will be provided in due course by the Charleton tribunal, which yesterday appealed to be allowed to do its work, without interference.

THE whole country empathises with the fate of

Sgt McCabe, but the tribunal is the best place for examining the facts. In view of the lengths politicians have to go to get into power, it is remarkable the risks they are prepared to run with relinquishing it. Not only is an election inappropriate, there is no guarantee it will produce any more stability than we now have, or that the results will be conclusive. Insurmountable problems exist only when we consider them so. This Government took months to put together and has shown surprising durability, thanks to a willingness to engage and work together. Compromise is not a weakness.

The needs of the more than 8,000 homeless, and the 600,000 people waiting on hospital treatments – never mind the torturous Brexit negotiations – are far more pressing than a distracting and disruptive election. The patience of the people should not be seen as a given.

Electorates have a habit of taking retribution on Governments who take them for granted. If Mr Martin, or Mary Lou McDonald, are in any doubt about this, just ask Theresa May.