Honest politicians. We long to have more but are we and the system ready for them. The 2011 election was fought on such a premise.
Instead of full disclosure, we got Enda. Throughout the tough years, Enda kept quiet, his head firmly under the parapet. When he did speak to the nation, it was just that, a set piece, heavily scripted ‘cosy chat’ with no pesky journalists asking questions. Not exactly what you’d call open government.
At least we had Leo.
In the first few years of this government, Leo was posted to the safe land of Transport and Travel. It wasn’t exactly controversial but when he did step outside his brief, there was fun to be had. Was he jostling with Simon Coveney in advance of a post-Enda ending? Or was he some Shakespearean fool whose job it was to speak the truth as others around him, ducked, dived and spun their way out or in to any political mess you care to name.
Leo was box office.
June arrived and Leo got his break. The penny dropped in Enda’s mind. It was Jimmy who would bring us doom. Leo’s CV was read and he was moved to Health. Again, his honesty was stunning. He wanted to spend his summer reading his briefs. Imagine that.
What did he find out? Everything the former Health Minister planned could never happen or at least it could never happen all in one deliciously mad one big bang. We need to take a step back and do things one step at a time and, by the way, we will be dealing with an overrun. Things will be done but it might take more time than Big Jim imagined or made up.
We thought that was fair enough and sounds honest. Leo also said that we might only get an extra €5 a week in taxes in the upcoming budget. We didn’t like it but hey it sounded more honest. It was more honest than Howlin’s we’re going to break the ‘boom and bust’ cycle. Yeah sure and I’m going to bring back the square wheel.
Enda didn’t like the blunt honesty of course. For some reason he decided last night was a good night to do an impromptu interview with those strange sub-strata of society, political correspondents you can hear it here.
I’m sorry Enda will you get over your JFK thing. Listen to Leo. He is the black coffee you need to sniff. He might turn around the department that cost you the election. Listen to him and you might win the next election. If you don’t Leo may well be eyeing up your current job in Fine Gael. Or maybe that’s the problem.
You choose, Taoiseach.
