Cowen could dig a hole without having a spade
THE Government is back today following the Oireachtas Easter holiday -- another long parliamentary recess that makes the row about TDs' 'long-service' increments something of a sour joke.
But it's a sign of the times. Even when the political establishment shuts up the talking shop and disappears, the Coalition still gets buffeted by controversy and mistakes of its own making.
Since delivering a bitterly unpalatable Budget and then bolting for their various refuges around the country, ministers have not been accountable to the Dail -- but it still hasn't shielded them from an uncomfortable spotlight.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen had another bad week last week, faced with twin rows over long service increments for Dail deputies that everyone thought had been abolished in the Budget and a property investment he made in Leeds.
Snapping up an apartment in the Carr Mills development in West Yorkshire might have seemed like a good idea at the time but, unfortunately, it now smacks of unwanted proximity to oily property types . . . while also undermining the general government vibe that it is somehow unpatriotic to shop in Northern Ireland.
There's a big legal tangle over Carr Mills that really has nothing at all to do with the Taoiseach but which has allowed his investment to be thrown up into the air like a tennis ball and batted about the airwaves and public prints.
The fuss is unfortunate, but probably proof of some political law that when it ain't going well for you, things can only get worse. More damaging is the bungling last week which generated a lot of grief over long-service increments for Dail deputies.
The Government definitely gave the impression in the Budget speech that these extra payments for already well-heeled TDs were being abolished in totality.
Confusion (and a good deal of public cynicism) arose when the Department of Finance claimed all last week that only future exposure to these extra demands on the public purse would be curtailed and that those in possession of the payments would continue to get them.
That seemed to fly in the face of what Brian Lenihan said in his speech, in a section ironically entitled 'Fairness'.
Mr Lenihan declared: "Before we ask anyone else to give, we in this House and in this Government must examine our own costs." They "must lead by example", he said, before announcing: "Deputies will no longer receive long-service payments or increments."
It turned out the Government only wanted to penalise the 26 TDs due to receive the bonuses this summer, and not the 72 TDs who are already getting them. When tackled on the issue, the Taoiseach suggested that the Government would seek legal advice on forcing it on the current beneficiaries.
It was another fudge -- but the damage was done. It was just not true that "deputies will no longer receive long-service payments or increments". As things stood, the majority of them clearly would.
And those deputies made things worse for the Government, and its credibility, by suddenly rearing up against the very notion of "leading by example" or giving before others were asked to give.
They responded angrily to media ring-arounds when journalists asked if they would spare the Government's blushes by coughing up their increments voluntarily.
Cork North Central TD Noel O'Flynn, already angered by the halving of the value of his chairmanship of a Dail committee, was typical in his towering denunciation of any planned confiscation of increment money: "I won't give it back, and nobody can take it from me."
The TDs were calling the Government's bluff and proving themselves clued-in at the same time, because there were plenty of legal queries over the Coalition's competence to seize money retrospectively.
And that seems to have been the nub of the advice offered by Attorney-General Paul Gallagher -- because the Government was in full retreat on the matter yesterday, conceding that those already getting the dough would continue to receive it. Chief Whip Pat Carey led the clarification on 'Morning Ireland'.
It has meant another PR disaster for the Government, which now has managed to convey to the public a sorry spectacle of 'greedy' TDs and a leadership that was confused at best.
At worst, the Taoiseach thought about taking on his backbenchers, but then opted to surrender instead -- hardly what Lenihan had in mind when he talked about 'giving' before other sections of society were asked to make sacrifices.
Meanwhile, the jury is out on whether there was a deliberate attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of people through the phrase: "Deputies will no longer receive long-service payments or increments."
Such a short and decisive sentence is so unusual from this Government that the electorate can hardly be blamed for taking it on its face. More fool, us.
And then yesterday, Noel Dempsey was out saying that it was the media that had taken it all up wrong, and that the Taoiseach hadn't been confused about his own policy, but speaking about some other points entirely.
It didn't wash -- and Mr Cowen's own doorstep interview yesterday betrayed an anxiety to put the whole sorry mess behind him.
Still, it was impressive to get into a hole when under no pressure . . . what will it be like when they get back into the swing of things from now?
smolony@independent.ie
- Senan Molony
