Like a lot of people in this country I am sick to death of compo-culture and angered by the government’s failure to deal with it. Then Fine Gael’s credibility with regard to this problem is absolutely shot. Maria Bailey has done untold damage to her own reputation and tarnished her party. The so-called internal inquiry designed to put a lid on it, has done exactly the opposite. Now Josepha Madigan, the Culture Minister, comes into the frame. What advice did she give ? What opinion did she have ? This is important because we have a right to know what the attitude of a Minister who sits at the cabinet table is towards compo-culture. Then what do you expect from a Fine Gael Minister. Why not ask Alan Farrell, T.D. who dropped a claim for €880 worth of motor repairs what he feels, or more importantly what the constituents of the three afore mentioned T.D.’s feel about their attitude to compo-culture. They will have the opportunity to express their opinion at the next election. In the meantime, we are faced with inertia and inaction by a government whose very participants look to be complicit in the game. Frankly it stinks.
Then all of this pales in comparison to Boris’s walking into No. 10. I thought his trip to the Palace being interrupted by climate change activists was poetic. In a flash the political weather changed. Make no mistake this is going to be a rough ride and there currently look to be multiple possible outcomes. From the outset his government seems to be on a war footing. Dominic Cummings the Svengali of the Leave Campaign is appointed one of his principal advisers. He has been held “in contempt of parliament”. Michael Gove, another key figure in the Leave Campaign, who stabbed Boris in the back, is forgiven and returns to Cabinet. Priti Patel who until recently advocated a return of the death penalty becomes Home Secretary. For a final flourish he has made Jacob Rees-Mogg Leader of the House. For a moment the phrase the lunatics have taken over the asylum leaps to mind, but it is wrong because all these people are deeply committed to extracting the UK from the EU. The problem is what they do and how they do it affects all of us.
At this stage, all out government can do is listen to any proposals that are forthcoming. So far all we have is megaphone diplomacy and bluster. I am not particularly optimistic about a deal. There seems little willingness anywhere to negotiate. I have real concerns after so much progress made on Anglo Irish relations, North South relations, commercial and cultural links, that we will slide backwards. As I put pen to paper I hear on Sky News that Boris and Jean- Claude Juncker have exchanged mobile phone numbers. It is going to take a great deal more than that to sort out this mess. Watch this abyss.