Rabbitte chasing the Greyhounds
6.15.2005
Another day and another thundering burst of labour party principled outrage. Today however there is more than just background noice to the warm up to a general election campaign. There is a serious point to be made, i feel. Todays topic of ire is none other than the falout from teh morris reporrt into gardai in donegal. It is a hard and fast rule of politics that the opposition tries to force the governments hand in the name of 'the interests of the people' and not hardcore electoral politics.
Rabbitte's point is that the governemtn has done nothing but running from the findings of the morris report. they have singularly failed to defend their action nor account for it. there has been little or no effort to assure us that they are willing to engage with public concern over garda corruption. above all they have shown their ritual disregard for parliament by refusing to be held accountable to the DAil in debate or committee in hearing. the Justice minister on whose watch all this occured has done little else but snivellingly apologise to the Mcbrearty family with power to bring him down. the government only bows to pressure to its tenure and has little or no other defining principle.
the apology from McDowell, while appropriate, was a function of self preservation and avoidance of accountability. he is not a man for defending his action-a general characteristic of all Bullies. The government then cut and ran from all other light that may be shone on the shady activites of its parties. This opposition has done very well from the Mcbrearty situation especially Howlin and Higgins and now the party leaders.
There is little or no defense for not having a full and accoutable debate without descending into the blame game. could this government become mired in the sleaze allegations that befell the government of John Major? Unlikely and probably hyperbolating, however the response from the government to the report has been underwhelming and completely childish. This blog is getting repetitive in calling for accoutability but the more tha government acts in a manner resembling autocracy then the more we must hold them to account for their actions.
The only beneficiary in the long term from this fallout is the apathy party. Its all of our losses if this situation doesnt change and FF/PD realise that power is more than simply occupying office but hold genuine moral and political responsibilities. We entrust them to do our work and administrate in good faith. they need to reciprocate because sovereignty is a two way street.
RAbbitte is right and indeed so are all others who seek to promote transparency and accountability. this government is human and will not function perfectly, we must learn and discuss when things go wrong and prevent them happening again.
this currently means garda reform in the manner of the Patten proposals andaccording to the Senator Maurice Hayes line. Genuine accountability and trust.
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