The lottery of politics

John O’donoghue, former Fianna Fail minister for tourism, lost his Dail seat in Kerry South at last year’s general election. He said publicly that he found it ironic that the election count had taken place in a sports centre for which he had paid.

Of course, Mr O’donoghue had done nothing of the kind. The money did not come out of his own pocket. In Ireland, the taxpayers ( or television licence holders, or users of inordinately expensive public services, or buyers of National Lottery tickets) pay for everything.

Times change. Governments change. But who, in Mayo for instance, can tell the difference?

Lotto grants to Mayo rose last year by 70pc, to € 1.8m. Mayo is the constituency of Taoiseach Enda Kenny, and also of Michael Ring, junior minister for tourism and sport. A big slice of the € 1.8m, € 678,000, went through Mr Ring’s department. It included € 230,000 for Westport, more than the entire allocation for South Co Dublin.

Dr John Considine of University College Cork proposes a cap on the amount of Lotto funds for each constituency. Alternatively, or in addition, grants should be made by an independent body.

But a Fianna Fail spokesman, Deputy Timmy Dooley, made a revealing comment: this was “politics as usual” from Fine Gael. Exactly.

Will it ever cease to be politics as usual?