A pronouncement on our democracy!
In last weeks debate on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics programme Minister Pat Rabbitte revealed the truth about Labour’s attitude towards the citizens and honesty in the political process.
Rabbitte was asked by the presenter àbout Labour’s election promises, not to cut child benefit, about “Frankfurts Way or Labour’s Way!” etc. The Minister was asked “Do you accept that you have broken promises?” … and the now famous reply was clear: “Isn’t that what you tend to do during an election?”
Couple that with the Supreme Court ruling before the recent Children’s Referendum that the government had “acted wrongfully” in spending money on a website which was “not fair, equal or impartial”. Consider the re-running of two crucial European referendums until we “got it right” and you have serious issue to think about regarding our democracy.
But Rabbitte is not alone:
Remember Leo Varadkar telling us how “democracy needs to be managed“, he said we “need a strong party system and a strong whip system”
Remember Minister Simon Coveney dismissal of election promises durint the Fiscal Compact debate.
Remember Minister Richard Bruton’s arrogant statement that “will be looking to say can we vote again” if the Fiscal Compact vote didn’t pass?
Remember Ministers Alan Shatter and Brian Hayes dismissing concerns raised by previous holders at the Attorney General’s office in the referendum earlier this year?