Constant attacks on political rivals won’t impress your voters
VOTERS will find it hard to believe that Fine Gael – which has overseen massive housing and hospital waiting lists – would have the gall to compile a list on the failings of a party that has never been in power.
Yet apparently Leo Varadkar’s party has put together an 18-page “secret dossier” with supposedly damaging information exposing Sinn Fein “hypocrisy”.
Then again desperate times require desperate measures.
And there is a distinct whiff of desperation from Fine Gael as the Shinners’ popularity soars while the Blueshirts sing the blues.
Leo Varadkar’s defence of his recent Dail spat with Pearse Doherty with the claim it was in “self defence” to Sinn Fein “bullying” was another sign of the pressure he’s under.
The fact that he could blurt out precise details of Deputy Doherty’s verbal run-in with a Garda a quarter-of-a-century ago would indicate that this guff was meticulously researched and well rehearsed.
While Fine Gael claims that this nugget of nonsense was not on the abovementioned list it certainly didn’t drop from the sky.
Claims of bullying by a man who won the Fine Gael leadership by falsely claiming ordinary folk were benefit cheats and whose party pilfered cash from workers’ hard-earned private pension pots is pretty hard to stomach.
The survivors of the Cervicalcheck scandal and the families of the women who lost their lives because of it might enlighten Mr Varadkar as to the true definition of bullying.
Personal attacks on the Shinners and other parties are seen by the public for what they are – brazen attempts to deflect attention from Fine Gael’s appalling record in Government.
Constantly attacking the Shinners and pointing to their former IRA connections has failed to impress a generation of voters who are more worried about their future, or lack of one, than hearing scare stories about the past.
The reality is neither Fine Gael nor Fianna Fail is in any position to drag up past events when both parties have more skeletons in their cupboards than the natural history museum.
For the Tanaiste to claim it was to protect his mental health that he snapped back at Deputy Doherty is insulting.
This applies especially to those who cannot access this country’s overstretched and underfunded mental health services – even if they want to go privately.
Apparently it’s the constant accusations from the Shinners that Fine Gael is out of touch which has roiled the
Tanaiste. But the truth is that the Government is totally detached from the reality of the lives of ordinary people.
If anyone is being bullied it’s a public which has been forced to live in a rip-off Republic where everyday prices are 40% higher than the European average.
Official figures this week show that housing costs here are 88.5% higher than the EU average.
And rents among the most expensive in the world leaving an entire generation unable to buy, or even rent, a home.
When this and previous governments decided to leave the provision of housing almost exclusively to the private sector – along with over-generous tax breaks – it was a betrayal of citizens in favour of the corporate sector.
There can be no doubt that this freemarket feeding frenzy came about by design rather than accident and Fine Gael’s signature is on the plans.
The latest Eurostat figures also show Ireland was almost 17.5% higher than the EU average when it came to food while alcohol prices which are almost 105% higher than the European average.
As having the most expensive booze in Europe wasn’t enough the Government decided to impose minimum unit pricing knowing it hit the less well off hardest and make a killing for the supermarkets and off licences.
Both the Taoiseach and Tanaiste have rejected calls for an emergency Budget to deal with spiralling costs.
They claim this would lead to further inflation yet are about to sanction a 10-15% pay rise for senior public servants earning more than €150,000.
Mr Varadkar’s claim that “you have to stand up to bullies” might come back to haunt him if the public do just that come the next election.