U-turns, lies and election scrapes: life with Fine Gael

E Broken promises and policy reversals are playing into the opposition’s hands, writes Philip Ryan

NDA Kenny and his Government have lied to the people who elected them over and over again for three years. At first, we were outraged by the hypocrisy of the Coalition’s broken promises but now, it is almost routine.

Today, we barely pay any notice when the Government U-turns on a policy which was supposedly a cornerstone of its vision for the future just a few months earlier.

From day one up until last week, Government ministers have laughed off the naive suggestion they should actually be taken at their word. Promises, as sacked Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte told us, are just something you make during election campaigns.

Mr Rabbitte’s Labour Party has been especially flippant in its approach to promises and undoubtedly suffered the most for its disregard for public trust. The party’s now infamous pastiche of a Tesco advert pledging not to cut child welfare or increase wine prices has haunted Labour since it entered the Coalition.

Fine Gael may not have suffered as badly at the polls but the party has been just as cynical in its attitude to publicly stated commitments.

Mr Kenny’s pre-election promises to cap special adviser salaries and stamp out cronyism were broken within weeks of his appointment in March 2011.

Various other commitments made before the election and in the programme for government have also been tossed aside. One of those promises was made on March 15 when Mr Kenny proudly told the Dail “nobody will be left behind” as he announced his plans to introduce universal health insurance (UHI).

He claimed our current two-tier health system would be abolished and replaced by “equal access to care for all”. But this week, newly appointed Health Minister Leo Varadkar told us his predecessor Dr James Reilly’s plans to introduce UHI by 2019 was slightly ambitious.

The latest healthcare U-turn comes hot on the heels of the medical card fiasco which led to Labour’s annihilation in the local election and Fine Gael didn’t fair much better.

The public was aghast at the treatment of the most vulnerable people in society and the Government was embarrassed into calling off the HSE’s review of medical cards. As a by-product, Sinn Fein’s support surged and Fianna Fail bounced back from the hammering it took in the 2009 local election.

Fianna Fail have claimed victory on behalf of the thousands of sick and disabled people who had their medical cards stripped from them. It also chalked down the garda whistleblower and penalty points controversies as defeats for the Coalition.

Mr Kenny is continually allowing Fianna Fail — the party that brought us the economic downturn and the bank bailout — to rebrand itself as the party of the disenfranchised people of Ireland.

Sinn Fein, meanwhile, are being considered a legitimate choice by certain sections of the electorate despite its links to the heinous crimes of the Troubles.

Former Labour leader Eamon Gilmore paid the ultimate price for losing the public’s trust and Mr Kenny’s blatant disregard for sticking to his word will ultimately lead to his own downfall.