He's taken the blows and now Brian's doing it . . . His Way
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IT finally got to him. The relentless barrage of sniping and pot-shots had reached fever pitch over the last few weeks. The Dithering Taoiseach. The Man with No Plan. The long-winded Waffly Rover. The Rudderless Ship of State. The Great Prevaricator. Inaction Man. Blunder Boss.
It's always difficult to gauge how much criticism actually permeates through the bubble surrounding any Taoiseach, or whether any dog's abuse from the electorate, the media or the Opposition -- both deserved and unwarranted -- actually hits home or not.
With Brian Cowen it's been hard to know; he tends to look put-upon as a matter of course. But any doubts on the question of the thinness of this particular Taoiseach's skin were dispelled loudly and clearly yesterday afternoon during the first bout of Leader's Questions since December.
He may have been on holliers from the Dail for the past 40 days, but there was no sun-lounger in Lanzarote for Brian this Christmas.
Instead, January brought an avalanche of bad news on the disintegrating economy, a round of emergency cabinet meetings, bank legislation to ram through the Dail, a bank to nationalise, and a small matter of scraping together €2bn.
And so Brian convened that endless talking-shop that makes up the social partnership. He vowed a plan would be firmly in place by the end of January. There was much talking, but by the start of the new Dail term yesterday, no one was talking figures. A little less conversation, a little more action please, Taoiseach.
And from the off in question-time, Enda Kenny was having a go at his leadership.
"It's now 40 days since the House met here on the last occasion," began the Fine Gael leader. "In those 40 days, the Government and the Taoiseach have wandered through an economic desert bereft of ideas, bereft of decision, bereft of directions and dare I say it, bereft of the courage to govern."
Brian was clearly in the mood to defend himself -- and the process of social partnership.
"I am acutely aware as Taoiseach of this country that people are losing their jobs and that more will lose jobs; I am acutely aware that this open economy is not immune from the international developments which have taken place," he responded before lapsing into Biffo-speak about the need for "an overall macroeconomic plan" and "bringing forward micro-initiatives".
But it was Enda's offer of some Fine Gael suggestions to "help put some semblance of economic sanity in the floundering around you've been at for the last six weeks" that caused Brian's hackles to rise to their full height.
"This Government is determined to put everyone behind this national effort and it will not be done, despite what others might think, without engaging with those who have a stake in this society. I believe in this approach," he declared, his voice rising in irritation. "It is often portrayed as an attempt by Government to abdicate its responsibility. Far from it," he thundered in disgust. "I make no apologies".
As a babble of dissent rose from the opposition benches, Brian Cowen could take no more. He'd had enough of people dissing his credibility, his stomach for leadership, his loyalty to social partnership.
If Bertie was the dig-out Taoiseach, then Brian is the Dig-In one. And he was determined to stand his ground, to claim his right to be Decider-in-Chief.
Glowering across the chamber, Brian all but thumped his chest. "As long as I am running this Government I will run the Government as I see fit...", he shouted as the babble turned to roars, "...as I believe in, based on my philosophy!
"I will run the country on the basis of how I see it," he persisted, all but drowned out by jeers from the Fine Gael benches. The benches around him were largely silent.
Eamon Gilmore, with one eye on the chamber door in case a suddenly Napoleonic Taoiseach had called in the tanks, wasn't having any truck with the Taoiseach's impromptu rewriting of Frankie's 'My Way'.
"Can I first of all remind the Taoiseach that the elected representatives of the people, all the people, are in this House, and that the Taoiseach is NOT free to run the Government as he sees fit," he said sternly. "He is free to run the Government in accordance with the authority that he derives from this House and in response by way of accountability to this House for his actions," he added, just in case Brian missed the point.
The Taoiseach, perhaps sensing that the last High King of Ireland -- another Brian (Boru) -- came to a sticky end, promptly withdrew his claim.
"Of course, I'm not suggesting that I run this House other than by the authority of the Dail," he said hastily. "I was making the point in argument... that I have a responsibility to do this job as I believe it should be done for as long as I hold this job," he explained.
"And it's in that sense I put forward what I had to say, and in no other sense. I'm as committed a Democrat as anybody else, and I live by the Democratic life of the country the same as everybody else," he stressed, visibly willing himself to simmer down.
So for tonight, the Republic is still intact. But Brian Cowen had made his point -- he has planned each charted course; Each careful step along the byway.
And the rest of us can like it, or lump it.
- Lise Hand
