Sensationalist Rhetoric

Donal O'Driscoll ✍ For all my opposition to successive Irish governments, I feel some of the sensationalist rhetoric of the last week or so needs to be scrutinised.

1. This government has no legitimacy.

This is patently not true. I may not like this government, but Ireland is a parliamentary democracy. Ireland is divided into constituencies, each constituency elects a set number of TDs. Out of those TDs, parties negotiate alliances. Governments are formed as a result of these alliances. I may not support this government, but it was elected legitimately as per the Constitution.

2. This government is a dictatorship.

Again, patently false. The government was elected in 2024, people had the right, as I did, to vote for alternative options. An insufficient amount of people did so. This government has done nothing to change rules to guarantee their power or anything else to indicate they are dictators.

3. We're being taxed to the Hilt.

I don't disagree at all that tax monies are not well distributed in Ireland, but we are a comparatively low tax economy, certainly by European standards.

4. We can find money for everyone else but our own.

Apart from the dangerous overtones of this argument, it is a total red herring. There is nothing to suggest spending on overseas aid directly takes from domestic spending. Again the problem here is distribution of public funds, not the amount spent on foreign aid.

5. The government have sold us out.

Have they though? I despise both FF and FG, but as much as they may put a positive spin on things at election times, they essentially are honest about what they are. We have decades of history to tell us what to expect from FF or FG in government. Collectively as people, we didn't vote in sufficient numbers to get them out. That is on us.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.