Figures prove ‘new politics’ is not working

AT THE time Fine Gael reached its confidence-and-supply deal with Fianna Fáil, this newspaper warned that the likely outcome of such ‘new’ politics would be a legislative logjam, as both parties endlessly teased out Bills at the committee stage before enacting them.

Although these fears were dismissed, our analysis of the numbers shows that we were correct. In the first 14 months of its existence, the Dáil has debated more Bills than any of the previous four governments in the same time-frame – yet it has passed the fewest Acts. At the same time, we have a Taoiseach staggering from one gaffe to the next; this week’s was claiming he got tough with the Saudis over their record on women’s rights, which he later had to amend to human rights.

As he lurches towards the end of his leadership, the contenders for his job are engaging in the pantomime of succession, with Leo Varadkar talking about a possible televised debate between him, Simon Coveney and whoever else might throw their hat in the ring. Whoever wins will be taoiseach, the second time in a decade that – as was the case with Brian Cowen – we will end up with a head of government we did not get a chance to vote on.

Whoever gets the job will face the immediate challenge of Brexit, which has descended into farce thanks to the posturing of Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker, whose indiscretions, and trolling of the UK, have become tediously predictable. In short, we have the perfect storm – a Government that isn’t governing, led by a man whose dithering has created the clown show that is the succession race and an EU mandarin stoking discord.

With the train about to jump the rails, we must have an election immediately after the leadership contest – and we must hope that, this time, someone emerges who governs in our interests, not theirs.