A lot of good solid Fine Gael people have been whispering that FF deserve to stew for a few years in the mess they are currently making. This is the same logic that said that the last election was one to lose. I absolutely disagree. Fine Gael have never been a party of easy answers, which probably explains why we so rarely see office. Instead, we can be relied on to put the national interest first.
The current FF\Green government, and the FF\PD government before it have been the architects of an unprecedented lost opportunity. The booming economy of the mid to late nineties, and the earliest years of the new century were the envy of the world, and our neighbours must surely have been envious of what we could achieve with such resources. Instead, FF reverted to type with vast sums wasted on vanity projects, waste and jobs for the boys. A party of parish pump fixers and vote-getters took the spoils of boom, and frittered them away like there was no tomorrow.
As a party FF operate like a chain of local franchises, with few of the TDs ever looking to the big picture.
At the head of this motley crew stood Bertie Ahern, a man who made indecisiveness a virtue. People marvelled at his negotiation skills, and with the honourable exception of the Northern Ireland talks, history will be a cruel revisionist. Bertie did not negotiate, he bought off – usually at the taxpayers expense.
So should FF suffer for their misgovernment. Yes they absolutely should, but they should be punished at the ballot box. The longer they stay in, the more damage they will do. It is time to return a lean, hungry and competent party to power. So to all FGers out there, our hour has come: the country needs us and we won’t be found wanting.
