Manifestos are fairytales and not to be taken seriously by sane adults

SIR,

The general election is on for February 8. It could be more of the same, except Fine Gael could be propping up a Fianna Fáil government. Apparently we had ‘new politics’ for the past four years. Was it new, when we already had the ‘Tallaght strategy’, a similar arrangement entered into by Alan Dukes in the ‘80s?

At that stage we had four general elections from June 1981 to February 1987.

The political classes were tired of elections, and party coffers were empty. Many would say that Fine Gael couldn’t afford another election, so the default was this so-called ‘Tallaght strategy’. Alan Dukes supported a minority Fianna Fáil government as long as they pursued sound economic policies.

Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny offered Fianna Fáil ministries in the negotiations for a government in 2016. Had Micheál Martin accepted then, we would have had ‘new politics’. That did not happen. They would have had a direct input through their ministries, and the people may have benefited. They put party first, not citizens. We have a strange situation at the moment that the party that devastated so many lives when last in government, namely Fianna Fáil, is ahead in the polls.

Why is this so? Are people so disillusioned with Fine Gael that they want those who wrecked our economy back in power?

Fine Gael could have hoped to be in government for three consecutive terms and with an overall majority after the mess Fianna Fáil made of the country. People were extremely angry at the incompetence of Fianna Fáil in the boom times. Fine

Gael, for some reason, haven’t benefited because of such incompetence. What does is say about their policies if this is the case? Do they lack soul , empathy, compassion? Something in the public’s mind is ill at ease with what they have witnessed in Dáil Éireann over the past nine years .

Health, housing; insurance; political perks; childcare; carbon taxes; too free with public funds for the Children’s Hospital or broadband, printers ; lack of jobs away from the east coast and the forgotten rural Ireland – take your pick, it could be any or all of these.

The public is educated and discerning. The Labour Party has not yet recovered from their shift to the right in their previous life in government as ‘junior Fine Gael’, and it doesn’t look like they will.

Sinn Féin await, but they could be left waiting if the two main parties align as they should do. We will not know if they could be any different. Would they tighten up on the plethora of perks available to the political classes? Would they get swallowed up by the system – a system that is not fit for purpose as it doesn’t serve the citizens very well but serves all the politicians perfectly.

We will be bombarded with election promises now and, of course, when a government is formed even those ‘red line’ issues will go as it will be a tough negotiation to form a stable government, and compromises will have to be made.

In other words, manifestos are fairy tales, not to be taken seriously by sane, intelligent adults,

Sincerely,

Gerry Cournane, Tralee