Thus, the contortions: The transparent attempt, having spent years accusing everybody else of “dog-whistling”, to learn how to do it themselves.
“He will never be more politically powerful than he will be on his first day in office – if he has big changes in mind, that’s the day to make them.”
“Being the Finance Minister allows him to plausibly claim credit for all Government successes, since he funded them, while distancing himself from failures, because all he did was fund them.”
If the Leo Varadkar of 2004 could look at the Leo Varadkar of 2024, I think it perfectly fair – even if perhaps slightly harsh – to ask whether he would even recognise himself.
If we assume that the Covid enquiry takes a similar length of time to that of the “Grace” enquiry, then we are looking at a report date of 2031, more than a decade after the events that it purports to report on.
Any other workplace that was suddenly losing a third of its workforce, many of them in the prime of their careers, would be considered to be in trouble. Serious questions would be asked of the senior management.
To blame Roderic O’Gorman is to concede that Irish policy contributed to the crisis and made it worse, and since official Ireland backed the policy wholeheartedly, this cannot be acknowledged.
Wokeness is ultimately an attitude. It is reflected in the perpetual disappointment that our leaders appear to feel towards the people they govern.
It’s another instance of our leaders passively admitting something in their actions that they cannot say with their words: That Ireland’s stance on Gaza – whether it is morally correct or incorrect – is politically toxic in the United States,
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, everyone, and thanks as ever for your readership
The obvious question is whether artists who travel to Texas to attend a festival are entitled to taxpayer funding for their flights and accommodation when they then decide not to bother playing at the event – the whole reason we were funding them to go in the first place?
It all goes back to an attitude problem: Listening to many Irish politicians, you get the permanent impression that they’re entirely sick of dealing with us