Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

Yes please, bring it on baby, at least some of them.

 Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s proposal to scrap the Seanad if in government is nothing short of a piece of hypocritical populist

They've killed Kenny - the bastards

posturing., not so much a red herring as a blue herritng.

 Enda Kenny surely realises the importance of the Seanad in the Irish political system, where it acts as a rest and recuperation home for TDs of all the three political parties who have lost their seats in the lower house. It also operates as a testing ground where aspirant members of the lower house can gain exposure, not to mention an endless supply of postage-paid Oireachtas envelopes, which will hopefully translate into success at the next election. And then there is “The Taoiseach’s eleven”, an evergreen source of patronage. Many, many years’ ago, when I was involved with The Organisation, I had to write a letter to then taoiseach Charles Haughey extolling the virtues of a would-be Seanad appointee, the most important of which was that he was the father of eight children. There was no hint in the letter that the man’s off-springs were facing incarceration in the poorhouse unless their parent were elevated to the upper house. Indeed I know one of the man’s children; he has used his hands and feet to has attain great and well-deserved success.

 Now let’s be honest; Enda has no more intention of getting rid of the Seanad than he has of joining the Hare Krishnas. This is all about deflection. It seems to have caught hold as a topic of media discussion, which helps take the limelight away from the fact that the Fine Gael party support the viciously incompetent, scorched earth economic policies of the present government – and why wouldn’t they? They are good, honest-to-God Blueshirt policies.

 What’s more this Seanad red herring may take attention away from the alacrity with which Fine Gael councillors are grabbing jobs for their families at local government level – larceny as great as any Fianna Fail or Green party minister at national level.

 But let us give credit where credit is due. The intellectual and professional pre-eminence of  relatives of Fine Gael councillors is awe inspiring. They possess some unique piece of internal genetic engineering which may be revealed one day when the mapping of the genome is finally completed. The scope of their abilities is truly kaleidoscopic, spreading from ward assistants in hospitals, to social workers through to Research Officers in crummy local museums. Just what is it that puts them head and shoulders above the relatives of councillors from other parties, or those people not related to councillors at all?