The election has finally been called and like greyhounds leaping from the traps to chase a hare every candidate is after your vote, desperate to catch you but I cant help but suspect that like any greyhound race the one that stands to loose most is the hare. Who will I vote for? Well I grew up in a Fianna Fail family so the idea of voting for anyone else was bizarre. Now, for the sake of the party I think a clean out at the top is needed and I'd welcome time in opposition.
For 10 years people like Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, Martin Cullen, Willie O'Dea, or the PDs Mary Harney and Michael McDowell have existed in a parallel universe, detached from normal life and protected from the everyday worries of the voters. They will tell you they understand life in their Ireland, but when was the last time any of them took a bus to work? Spent 2 hours in a traffic jam commuting to work. Queued at check in and security in Dublin Airport? Paid for a train ticket? Waited in A&E for hours? Slept on a hospital trolley in a corridor? Had to travel without a Garda driver to watch over them? Had to ask a bank for a mortgage? Had to worry about interest rate increases? Had to wait on hold to ask an eircom customer agent why their local exchange doesn't support broadband?
These people tell us all that life in Ireland is wonderful, all thanks to them of course, yet the longer they stay in power the more detached they become from the nation they govern. The more they believe that quality of life is measured in euros and stock options. The more they believe that theirs is the normal life.
So who will I vote for? Well I haven't decided who is getting my vote, but I know who isn't.
For 10 years people like Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen, Martin Cullen, Willie O'Dea, or the PDs Mary Harney and Michael McDowell have existed in a parallel universe, detached from normal life and protected from the everyday worries of the voters. They will tell you they understand life in their Ireland, but when was the last time any of them took a bus to work? Spent 2 hours in a traffic jam commuting to work. Queued at check in and security in Dublin Airport? Paid for a train ticket? Waited in A&E for hours? Slept on a hospital trolley in a corridor? Had to travel without a Garda driver to watch over them? Had to ask a bank for a mortgage? Had to worry about interest rate increases? Had to wait on hold to ask an eircom customer agent why their local exchange doesn't support broadband?
These people tell us all that life in Ireland is wonderful, all thanks to them of course, yet the longer they stay in power the more detached they become from the nation they govern. The more they believe that quality of life is measured in euros and stock options. The more they believe that theirs is the normal life.
So who will I vote for? Well I haven't decided who is getting my vote, but I know who isn't.
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