Who do you think merits ‘S**t Of The Year’ award?

IT’S time to take the ‘S**t The Year’ competition into public ownership and away from the politicians in Leinster House. For years, TDs and senators deliberated over who was the most obnoxious member of the Oireachtas in the privacy of the Members’ Bar. The result was secret but the private joke was sometimes shared with other political and party insiders.

I believe that it is time for others to make that call and propose to chair a panel to choose the ‘S**t Of The Year’; I promise that our discussions will be robust and open.

The winner will be announced in this column at the end of January, when the festive spirit will not cloud our forensic judgement.

We may even throw in a few more categories (like most amusing and least partisan member of the Houses), but the ‘S**t Of The Year’ winner will be the showcase event.

In the past, former minister Alan Shatter was regularly short-listed by his peers but Fianna Fáil’s Ivor Callely often challenged him.

I know many decent and honourable TDs and senators, some of whom I disagree with but who I believe are motivated by a strong sense of public service.

BUT I have known too many politicians with a ‘don’t you know who I am?’ sense of entitlement around Leinster House. As a boy, I remember my mother warning my sister: ‘Never date a man who is rude to waiters and waitresses.’ And I have seen staff in the restaurants in Leinster House rolling their eyes at the few politicians who have abused their positions of authority.

I also remember hearing the oblique hints of their impossible behaviour from policemen who used to drive ministers.

But it wasn’t only the exhibitionist antics of our politicians last week that encouraged me to privatise the ‘S**t Of The Year’ award.

I was also moved by the result of the failed libel action against former Tory minister Andrew Mitchell in London. The judge in the case chose to disregard a reference from Bob Geldof saying that Mitchell was not a foul-mouthed snob and accepted instead the evidence of PC Toby Rowland against the MP. Anyway, let’s get ready for the ‘S**t Of The Year’ contest, coming soon on this page in the Irish Mail On Sunday.