May we be the first to say...

OBVIOUSLY we find ourselves in a slightly awkward position today. We’ve had the exit poll but we don’t know the election result. Indeed, as you read this, you know more about the result than we do, which puts us at a slight disadvantage, so we’re having to hedge our bets slightly and we’ve decided to cover all eventualities. So we say, to whoever or whatever this new government is — if indeed there even is a government— in the words that Leopold Amery stole from Cromwell: IN THE NAME OF GOD, GO.

This new government, whoever it is, is hopelessly out of touch with the people. It lacks not only empathy, but sympathy, antipathy, apathy and indeed homeopathy. This government, in its short time in office, has presided over a health and housing crisis the like of which this country has never seen. The housing minister, whoever is unfortunate enough to have got that job, is out-of-touch, has no understanding of the lives of ordinary people and has an ideological aversion to doing what is needed to solve the housing crisis. The health minister, whoever that may be, sits idly by while people languish on trolleys and waiting lists.

Indeed, we would go so far as to say that this new government, whoever it is, is a disgrace. What has this government done for the people who get up early in the morning? Name one thing! And indeed, what have they done for the people who stay up late at night, or the people who like a lie-in? This government has been too long in the bubble of Leinster House and doesn’t have any feel for the issues that affect the working man and woman. They have let down our young people, and indeed old people and middle-aged people. In fact, they have let themselves down.

We (presumably) have a Minister for Finance who understands nothing about prudence, hogtied by mad promises made in the heat of an election. But not one cent has yet been put into the improved public services we were promised. None of the extra social houses we were promised has yet been built. This government has not fulfilled any of the promises on which they were elected.

Hope dawned briefly in the course of the recent election campaign. People voted for change, whatever that might mean, but on its record so far, this new government is failing to deliver that change. This country can no longer afford to drift along with this do-nothing Dail, not with challenges like Brexit. Today, before anyone else does it, we call for an election, to clear the air and to give us the change we want. There are those who would argue we should give this government a chance, but we refuse to support this administration any further. We say, enough chances. It is time, in the name of God, to go.