Tuesday, October 13, 2009

No apology just self pity


John O Donoghue’s speech today was a shameful exercise in re-writing history. The half truths he spoke about are surely his own recollections of how he abused the spending of taxpayer’s money. He may not have broken any laws; he may not have broken any rules and he may have acted within guidelines but he is guilty of a cavalier attitude to the spending of public money. Mr O Donoghue is a man in denial. He is indicative of the political class in this country who have lost touch with the people. For John and company no wrong can be done as long as it is within the rules as laid down by his peers. No thought is given to whether the rules may need to be changed.

For those expecting an apology it never arrived. For those expecting self pity and arrogance we got it in spades. John is representative of the disease that runs through Leinster house – this sense of entitlement and of being above the rest of us. It stinks to high heaven. I have no pity for John and I say this not callously but honestly. My only pity is that John and his friends in Fianna Fáil did not see fit to apologise for their lavish spending habits or use the opportunity of reforming the system. Let us not forget that John is only one of many. If Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and others fail to properly reform the system shame on them, if we allow things to continue as they are then shame on us.

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