GERARD O’REGAN: My 10 observations on 2017 –
BELOW are 10 end-of-year observations for 2017:
POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR
IT’S a dead heat between two Dáil deputies from the opposite ends of the spectrum – Leo Varadkar and Claire Daly.
The Taoiseach ended the year on a high with some assured Brexit-related performances on the international stage. In the main he argued his case with style and panache. Some of his speeches on the subject were especially well crafted – presumably those manning the Strategic Communications Unit are now earning their money. We are scarcely out of the starting blocks in what will be a Brexit marathon, but it has been an impressive early run.
Meanwhile, Ms Daly consolidated her position as one of the most intelligent and focussed members of the Dáil. Her capacity for marshalling a coherent argument continues to impress. She is also capable of dogged background research, giving her contributions a tangible fluency and authority. Her main strength is she usually seems to believe what she is saying – rather than dispensing nice sounding soundbites just because she can. And thankfully, for some reason or other, she doesn’t always sound so forlornly negative, as others in an often joyless hard-left cocoon.
THE COVENEY FACTOR
WHAT is going on inside Simon’s head? It’s kind of important when pondering how the Varadkar era will play out. So far the newly appointed Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister has also cut an impressive swathe in the Brexit battle. Indeed the triumvirate of the Taoiseach, Simon Coveney and Junior Minister Helen McEntee have blended remarkably well.
But in his quieter moments, Mr Coveney (below) will suffer some darting moments of disappointment when he recalls how Leo outmanoeuvred him for the top job. Common sense would remind him that his time will come again. And he has plenty to do, and endless opportunity, to expand his profile in the meantime.
But Leo will be guiding Fine Gael fortunes for this Dáil, and regardless of what happens in the election, for the next parliament also. In the interim, Mr Coveney’s loyalty must be 110pc for the partnership to work. If such is the case the duo just might be a kind of dream team for the party. If not disaster beckons – for all concerned.
GREEN SPACES – NO HOUSES
SOMETIMES in the early dawn, having done some punditry in the TV3 studios, the taxi bringing me back to the heart of Dublin holds up a mirror to some of the city’s problems. Snaking along the M50 ensnared in gridlock highlights the soulless journey which is the lot of too many commuters.
However, a surprisingly pleasant aside on departing the Ballymount complex is the sight of cattle, sheep, and fields ploughed for tillage, on both sides of the super highway. Farmhouses and hay barns, and perhaps the sound of a tractor revving up for work, gives the momentary illusion one could be travelling through rural Ireland.
Random thoughts are inevitable. We have endless green space around the capital. How come more people out there, call them developers or whatever, won’t build houses at a reasonable profit on all this land? It’s a bit simplistic, and there’s re-zoning and countless other issues to be considered. But will not the basic law of supply and demand – and the old human instinct to make a few bob when this seems obvious – eventually lead to a surge in construction? This would be a game changer in halting the property price spiral. Something has got to give sooner rather than later.
IT’S A MYSTERY
ALLOWING for cautious optimism on the housing front, it remains a mystery how our under 35s are making ends meet.
The world of work continues to undergo a metamorphosis – and for many security of employment is an ever-distant dream. Longer-term financial planning can be nigh impossible.
There is a will-o’-the-wisp dimension to chasing property prices, particularly in Dublin. No sooner is a deposit cobbled together that the cost of the desired house or apartment has raced even further out of reach. Those who do get on the ladder then face ‘the second mortgage’ challenge, which is paying for childcare. It really is mysterious how millennials are holding it all together!
WHO’S MINDING THE BABY
CHILDCARE remains a central conundrum of our age. Of course, there are various examples from Scandinavia suggesting the kind of model that might be followed here. The key advantage is that it would make the cost of paying those who look after children in the absence of their parents ‘affordable’.
But even the futuristic Nordic model poses its dilemmas, according to various experts. Recruiting and suitably rewarding those who replicate parental care is an ongoing challenge in all western countries. The era of the father and the mother – who for financial or other reason continue to hold down a job outside the home – is here to stay. But as to who should be left holding the baby, and what kind of care is on offer, often begs more questions than answers even up there in Sweden.
OBESITY BEATS BOOZE
CHATTING to a GP at a recent social event we queried what is the biggest issue affecting patient health? “Obesity,” she replied without hesitation. “People of all ages – children included – are getting fatter all the time.”
The official figures prove this is certainly the case. And seeing is believing. Just looking around shows that as a society we are rapidly losing the battle of the bulge. Obesity has now outstripped booze as the country’s number one lifestyle problem.
EVEN THE NHS BLEEDS
IT is an organisation that still reflects what is most comforting about British life.
But according to a report a few weeks ago the NHS is ‘straining at the seams’ battling with a host of problems. Waiting lists are up, as are the number of patients on trolleys. And many vital front line jobs cannot be filled. The way things are going there will be a €20bn funding gap by 2020. It all sounds depressingly familiar as we battle with our own health care woes. But it’s of no consolation to those waiting on muchneeded treatment, while our system eases queue jumping for the fortunate with private insurance.
ON SPORTING THEMES
THE question has to be asked: Is there too much soccer on the telly? Is this the reason many supposedly quality games seem bogged down in tedium. In contrast, TV coverage continues to transform the appeal of rugby, helped by some body thumping encounters, as we chalk up heart-warming success at home and abroad.
On the GAA front, the biggest question is whether the Dublin footballers will again prove unstoppable in 2018. There has been much talk that the money and back-up resources required to keep them flying so high is unmatched by any other county. But that’s just whinging. For the likes of Mayo and Kerry, this must be a year like no other. A titanic struggle is brewing between culchie land and the capital.
BLOWING HOT AND COLD
DONALD Trump is one – and we also have a couple of notables in the Dáil – who dismisses the whole notion of so-called climate change. Yet for those who track the variables of our own topsy-turvy weather there is certainly something odd happening in the stratosphere. We had Storm Ophelia in October, which had a surprisingly meandering route before it hit our shores. And over the past few years there have been bursts of flooding in unforeseen locations.
Inevitably we are a bit phlegmatic about the changing seasons in Ireland – having one of the most variable climates on the planet. But the experts tell us we must cope with the threat of rising sea levels and other challenges. Meanwhile, nearly nine out of 10 farmers believe something odd is happening with our weather. They should know.
AND THE FUTURE
A CERTAIN WB Yeats famously wrote “the centre cannot hold”. But that particular prognosis will not apply to our politics anytime soon. The opinion polls suggest our centrist parties – notably Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – are consolidating their core support. The traumas of the recession and the bailout years failed to break their hegemony.
Come what may, those who espouse the attractions of the middle ground will still dominate whatever government is formed after the next election.
Meanwhile, as the economy continues on the up, there are soundings from some that we are nudging towards another Celtic Tiger-type convulsion. Could that really happen? Does history repeat itself?
Farmers believe something odd is happening with our weather. They should know