Sleepwalking into disaster
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COMETH the hour cometh the man, they say. The hour is certainly at hand, but where is the Taoiseach? By Brian Cowen's own admission the international economic situation is the worst for a century.
But the Taoiseach and his Cabinet have been so mired in crises of their own making that they have barely had time to respond.
So the news today that support for the Government has plummeted, and that 76pc of those polled are dissatisfied with its performance, should not really come as a shock. To be behind Fine Gael by seven points should rock the Soldiers of Destiny to their foundations. They got a similar jolt three weeks ago, but that was in the wake of the most ill-advised Budget in recent economic history. So today's news is much worse. For despite three U-turns, the party has still managed to go backwards. The public simply does not have faith in Mr Cowen and his Cabinet, which lurches from crisis to crisis with a posse of spin doctors in its wake mopping up after each mess.
The big issues, reform of the public service, bolstering up of the banks and a restoration of some degree of confidence in the economy, have yet to be addressed in any convincing manner.
Mr Cowen and his ministers have been too busy bailing out the ship below deck to realise that they need to get back up on the bridge and alter their course.
To say that these results are devastating does not really tell the full story. Were they to be replicated in an election, a prospect that looms ever closer as more TDs jump ship, you would be looking at a bloodbath the like of which has not been seen since Cromwell.
There may be time to turn things around, but unless this Government awakens from its sleepwalk, it had better prepare itself for a very rude awakening. The challenges ahead are grave indeed, but there is no need to panic, just yet. There are steps that can be taken. The first of these surely has to be the restoration of some authority at the top. This means making an unashamed new start and presenting the full facts on the table. People are prepared to make sacrifices providing they know that ultimately things can get better. But they need to be given some evidence on which to build this belief.
The time for Mr Cowen to show genuine leadership is long overdue.
Public patience and the long knives on the backbenches can only be restrained for so long.
