The damaging highlights in Cowen's reign of error
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HE began his reign to the sound of applause from those he grew up with in his native Offaly.
But in the six months since that sunny homecoming tour to Tullamore and Clara, things have got progressively worse for Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
There was the sucker punch (the meaningless row about his swearing in the Dail), the body blow (the Lisbon Treaty referendum defeat) and then what amounted to a near knock-out (the reversal of the medical cards and income-levy Budget proposals).
Back then, he was talking about making whatever "temporary adjustments" might be required -- now he's admitting the country is in full-blown recession.
And having admitted in a roundabout way that his authority has been damaged by the post-Budget u-turns, he now faces a major challenge in trying to tackle the economic crisis.
May 7 -- Taking up office
This was the start, when Taoiseach Brian Cowen received his seal of office and announced the line-up of ministers in his new Cabinet.
"Slightly used" would be a better description, with only two new ministers -- Brendan Smith and his close ally Batt O'Keeffe -- coming in.
But the big decision was to appoint Brian Lenihan as his successor in the Department of Finance and to give the job of Tanaiste to Mary Coughlan -- two moves that the opposition are now questioning. Mr Cowen adopted a "steady-as-she-goes" attitude to his junior ministers two weeks later, chopping only three. He did not reverse the decision of his predecessor, Bertie Ahern, to increase their number from 17 to 20.
June 12 -- Lisbon Treaty referendum defeat
This was the political earthquake which put Mr Cowen on the back foot at home, and in Europe. He was criticised for admitting he had not read the treaty personally, for getting involved in rows with Fine Gael during the campaign and for failing to get his party's foot soldiers sufficiently energised for the 'Yes' side.
So he had to make a chastening appearance on RTE's 'Six One News', pledging to respect the 'No' vote.
And at a time when the economy was deteriorating at an increasingly rapid pace, the focus switched to the prospect of holding a second Lisbon Treaty referendum.
July 21 -- the Sarkozy visit
Mr Cowen may have been secretly dreading the visit of the hyperactive French president Nicolas Sarkozy, but it actually passed off without incident. He gave the French leader an awkward peck on the cheek, and managed to fob him off on the awkward question of another Lisbon referendum. So the issue was successfully parked until the European Council meeting in October -- and later put back again to its meeting in December.
Mr Cowen had just returned from his first official visit to the US, where his message was: "We are now a prosperous and peaceful country. That enables us to face the future with confidence."
But at the same time, there were ominous figures flowing into the Department of Finance showing falling tax revenues and mounting job losses from the property market slump.
August 20 -- Job losses mount
Mr Cowen received an unmistakable warning sign about the state of the economy -- in his own backyard.
In the midst of his holidays, he had to issue a statement regretting the announcement that Boston Scientific was shutting its manufacturing plant in Tullamore with the loss of 240 jobs. But the news nationwide was even worse, with unemployment reaching its highest level in 11 years.
By September, there were now 244,500 people on the live register -- a rise of 49.5pc in the space of a year -- and pressure on Mr Cowen to "do something" was mounting.
September 3 -- Bringing forward the Budget
Mr Cowen gathered the Cabinet together for their first meeting for the summer holidays and announced afterwards that the Budget would be brought forward by two months. He had little option, following Exchequer figures showing that there was a massive €8.4bn black hole in the Government's finances for the first eight months of the year.
But it gave him some political breathing space and put the public on notice that tough decisions would be taken.
September 17 -- National pay talks
Mr Cowen managed to get over the hurdle of the national pay talks. Although employers and unions had failed to reach agreement a month earlier, he helped to persuade them to sign up to a deal involving an 11-month public sector pay freeze and small increases for the private sector.
September 30 -- The bank bailout
A shocked nation awoke to the news that Mr Cowen and his Government had taken a decision "to safeguard the Irish banking system".
This was the same banking system that everybody, including the Financial Regulator, had been assuring us was in robust health. But as details of the €400bn guarantee emerged (later extended), he and Mr Lenihan earned kudos for taking decisive action.
October 14 -- The Budget meltdown
Mr Cowen had promised in advance of the Budget that nobody would be spared from pain -- but pensioners were sure they would be left alone. It quickly became clear that was not the case when details of the withdrawal of the automatic right to medical cards for over-70s were released on Budget day.
And they were not alone -- the Budget contained a lash of the whip for plenty of others -- parents, holiday homeowners, airplane travellers, motorists, wine drinkers and cigarette smokers, to name just a few.
Mr Cowen tried to tough it out by announcing minimal changes to the medical-card scheme but eventually had to execute a 90pc u-turn at a press conference six days later.
On the same day, he had to announce to the Dail that minimum-wage workers would be exempted from the 1pc income levy, leaving his authority seriously damaged.
