An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: Dancing the Local Issue Jig.

The neverending dance.

The neverending dance.

It could be a hospital, or a school. The government TDs put on the pained faces, and murmur about voting against the government. The opposition bluster  with chests puffed out like peacocks. The facts, that the school is a bad use of finite resources, or that the hospital is actually killing its patients, is irrelevant. The dance is all about who loves the county more. Then there’s an election: all the players switch sides! The new government TDs, former opposition peacocks, are suddenly recognising the need “to be realistic.” The new opposition TDs, freed from government, are now bawling their eyes out wondering when will someone PLEASE think of the children!

The constituents are a mix of rightly cynical about promises for newer hospitals and air ambulances (Let’s see the helicopters first) and impervious to reason over passion, and fact over hysteria.

The dance goes on. And on. And on.