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Yesterday was a pretty wild day for political anoraks. It started as I was eating my Weetabix when news broke that the Commissioner had retired. Not a resignation. Mr Callinan (he is a Mister now) sailed off into the sunset without so much as a by your leave or an apology. We all thought that was going to be the story of the day and we fully expected that whatever generalised set of words that the cabinet would release would be around the retirement and how that might affect the whistleblowers.
We sat back and waited. And waited. Some of us went about our daily business and actually forgot to check Twitter to get the latest news. And then 15.30 arrived and the world changed.
It took a while to sink in. Phone calls to police stations were recorded. On one level there was a bit of a ‘is that new?’ ring to it. 999 calls are recorded... But then we heard about court cases, a Commission of Inquiry, and the intervention of the Attorney General.
We had Enda briefing Leaders of the Opposition.
We now had a full-blown political crisis. We needed a explanation. We needed a hero.
We got Michael Noonan. The Finance Minister. Lovely man. Sterling politician but obviously not the Minister of Justice.
Was he recovering from going loco in Acapulco?
The thing is he wasn’t even in the Dáil yesterday.
He made his grand entrance this morning and he came out some real crackers. First up was the news Mr. Callinan sent a letter on March 10th. The bold Alan didn’t get to read it until 12.40 yesterday. He can be very exact and a devil for detail when he wants to be.
And hey, it’s all the media’s fault anyway. We exaggerate things for our own evil means.
And GSOC. Yes those nasty people only released a press release not a report.
And YES! He used the dog ate my homework / you did it when you were in power excuse.
The good ol’ arrogance of the man. There was no hint of an apology or an acknowledgment that something is very, very wrong in how justice is administered .
Of course he won’t resign.
Political crisis. What political crisis?
The man is amazing.
Shatter, sorry. It’s time for you to take some responsibility...it’s called leadership.
We await round two of the Shatter-athon this afternoon when he just might say something interesting about the whistleblowers. Or he could just be himself.
