With a general election on the cards in May, the two main party leaders could be forgiven for thinking they just didn’t need the unnecessary drama of four by-elections this Friday.
But as events have continued to take increasingly strange turns in the last few weeks, what was once the minor drama of a few meaningless by-elections now has the potential to evolve into a full blown crisis when the serious business is conducted in spring.
That the victorious candidates will only sit in the Dáil for a mere 40 days before having to stand again should have been the main talking point about this week’s trip to the polls for the lucky constituents of Cork North Central, Dublin Fingal, Dublin Mid-West and Wexford.
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Instead, they arrive at a time of unprecedented scrutiny of comments made by politicians, both sitting and aspirant, and the results have not been pretty for either Micheál Martin or Leo Varadkar.
The irony is the current attention being paid to any potentially inflammatory remarks uttered by their candidates was inspired by the rogue actions of an Independent TD.
When Noel Grealish made his incendiary remarks about Nigerians sending €3.4bn back to their native country in the last few years, he created a firestorm – and those flames are now beginning to warm the heels of the main parties.
In Grealish’s case, the sums mentioned were simply so outlandish you couldn’t imagine a TD making such a claim unless it was accurate. As we quickly learned, they weren’t accurate at all, and it later transpired he had even been informed they weren’t accurate before he made his claim.
Mr Grealish has yet to correct the record in the Dáil, which remains a most unfortunate state of affairs.
But while both parties rounded on the Galway Independent and were quick to condemn the remarks, both Varadkar and Martin are now only too aware of the mess their own house is in.
Lorraine Clifford-Lee’s self-inflicted Twitter wounds have been widely ventilated in public and the Fianna Fáil former front runner for the Fingal seat now faces an uphill struggle.
The Taoiseach was quick to go after Ms Clifford-Lee – too quick.
As I pointed out in this column last week, “while it is a member of Fianna Fáil this week, you can be guaranteed that it won’t be long before a member of Fine Gael is placed in the public stocks”.
Enter Verona Murphy from stage right and her comments on radicalised refugees, child-terrorists and hidden Isil fighters among the people arriving here.
The problems with her statement are wide and varied. The fact she didn’t immediately point out that deradicalisation and integration programmes have been instituted in many EU countries indicates she either forgot that crucial precedent – or she simply didn’t know and was furiously blowing a dog whistle to attract an apparently growing number of racist voters in this country.
While her remarks were badly thought out and poorly delivered – to give them the most charitable assessment – Varadkar’s response has been worse.
Trying to dismiss it all by saying she had apologised twice was simply not good enough when contrasted with the way he tried to make political capital out of Lorraine Clifford-Lee.
The fact Murphy was quickly marched down to the nearest asylum reception centre for a photo-op was, however, an indication they had been watching Fianna Fáil’s playbook when they dispatched Ms Clifford-Lee to a meeting with Pavee Point.
Given the way both sides are hurling accusations at each other, the smart move would surely have been to just remove Murphy from the ticket.
Now she is politically toxic and many Fine Gael insiders openly admit she could cause more problems for them if she wins.
But there is a much broader and more concerning element than just a few wannabe candidates shouting their mouths off in the hope of getting some free publicity and picking up a few votes.
The Taoiseach should have taken swift action, of the kind he demanded from Micheál Martin in regards to Clifford-Lee.
By refusing to do that he will now be seen by many voters as just another politician on the make.
At a time when trust in politicians and democracy itself is at an all-time low in most countries across the Western world, he did nothing to dispel the notion he is just the same as all the others.
Of course, every rational person knows that there are plenty of legitimate concerns held by ordinary people about our asylum process.
From the way they are treated by the authorities when they arrive, to the almost penal accommodation they are forced to live in and, perhaps most pertinently of all, the absolute lack of proper consultation with the locals, we are looking at a Government who could learn from Roy Keane’s mantra: when you fail to prepare you’re simply preparing to fail.
Contrary to the shrieks of the professionally disgruntled and left-wing ideologues, simply having a different opinion on immigration doesn’t make you a racist or, their favourite slur, a “fascist”.
But it flies in the face of the facts and the evidence to deny those people are out there – and if social media is anything to go by, they’re growing in number.
Maybe Grealish honestly got his sums wrong and forgot he had actually received the real figures before he dropped his bomb in the Dáil.
Maybe he’s too embarrassed to publicly apologise.
Maybe Murphy simply forgot to cite precedent in other countries and wasn’t simply engaging in the latest form of rabble rousing.
Maybe.
But when the zeitgeist seems to be moving towards a truly rotten scenario where race will for, the first time, be an active element in the next general election, it was genuinely baffling to see our Taoiseach adopt such a laissez-faire approach to his Wexford candidate.
After all, can anyone blame the voters for looking askance at a man who can’t show leadership within his own party while at the same time asking us to trust him to lead the country?
But if any politician thinks there might be a few easy votes in playing the race card (usually while uttering the weasel’s caveat that they are “only asking questions”), they need to be careful.
For while it is true that the people get the politicians they deserve, politicians should be mindful that casual race baiting means they might get the voters they deserve, too.
And when it comes to this increasingly toxic issue, no self-respecting democrat should want those people voting for them.
Having said that, Friday’s results will be fascinating…
Source: Read Full Article
Home » Analysis & Comment » Ian O'Doherty: 'Politicians should be wary of playing the race card because some votes simply aren't worth it'
Ian O'Doherty: 'Politicians should be wary of playing the race card because some votes simply aren't worth it'
With a general election on the cards in May, the two main party leaders could be forgiven for thinking they just didn’t need the unnecessary drama of four by-elections this Friday.
But as events have continued to take increasingly strange turns in the last few weeks, what was once the minor drama of a few meaningless by-elections now has the potential to evolve into a full blown crisis when the serious business is conducted in spring.
That the victorious candidates will only sit in the Dáil for a mere 40 days before having to stand again should have been the main talking point about this week’s trip to the polls for the lucky constituents of Cork North Central, Dublin Fingal, Dublin Mid-West and Wexford.
Please log in or register with Independent.ie for free access to this article.
Log In
New to Independent.ie? Create an account
Instead, they arrive at a time of unprecedented scrutiny of comments made by politicians, both sitting and aspirant, and the results have not been pretty for either Micheál Martin or Leo Varadkar.
The irony is the current attention being paid to any potentially inflammatory remarks uttered by their candidates was inspired by the rogue actions of an Independent TD.
When Noel Grealish made his incendiary remarks about Nigerians sending €3.4bn back to their native country in the last few years, he created a firestorm – and those flames are now beginning to warm the heels of the main parties.
In Grealish’s case, the sums mentioned were simply so outlandish you couldn’t imagine a TD making such a claim unless it was accurate. As we quickly learned, they weren’t accurate at all, and it later transpired he had even been informed they weren’t accurate before he made his claim.
Mr Grealish has yet to correct the record in the Dáil, which remains a most unfortunate state of affairs.
But while both parties rounded on the Galway Independent and were quick to condemn the remarks, both Varadkar and Martin are now only too aware of the mess their own house is in.
Lorraine Clifford-Lee’s self-inflicted Twitter wounds have been widely ventilated in public and the Fianna Fáil former front runner for the Fingal seat now faces an uphill struggle.
The Taoiseach was quick to go after Ms Clifford-Lee – too quick.
As I pointed out in this column last week, “while it is a member of Fianna Fáil this week, you can be guaranteed that it won’t be long before a member of Fine Gael is placed in the public stocks”.
Enter Verona Murphy from stage right and her comments on radicalised refugees, child-terrorists and hidden Isil fighters among the people arriving here.
The problems with her statement are wide and varied. The fact she didn’t immediately point out that deradicalisation and integration programmes have been instituted in many EU countries indicates she either forgot that crucial precedent – or she simply didn’t know and was furiously blowing a dog whistle to attract an apparently growing number of racist voters in this country.
While her remarks were badly thought out and poorly delivered – to give them the most charitable assessment – Varadkar’s response has been worse.
Trying to dismiss it all by saying she had apologised twice was simply not good enough when contrasted with the way he tried to make political capital out of Lorraine Clifford-Lee.
The fact Murphy was quickly marched down to the nearest asylum reception centre for a photo-op was, however, an indication they had been watching Fianna Fáil’s playbook when they dispatched Ms Clifford-Lee to a meeting with Pavee Point.
Given the way both sides are hurling accusations at each other, the smart move would surely have been to just remove Murphy from the ticket.
Now she is politically toxic and many Fine Gael insiders openly admit she could cause more problems for them if she wins.
But there is a much broader and more concerning element than just a few wannabe candidates shouting their mouths off in the hope of getting some free publicity and picking up a few votes.
The Taoiseach should have taken swift action, of the kind he demanded from Micheál Martin in regards to Clifford-Lee.
By refusing to do that he will now be seen by many voters as just another politician on the make.
At a time when trust in politicians and democracy itself is at an all-time low in most countries across the Western world, he did nothing to dispel the notion he is just the same as all the others.
Of course, every rational person knows that there are plenty of legitimate concerns held by ordinary people about our asylum process.
From the way they are treated by the authorities when they arrive, to the almost penal accommodation they are forced to live in and, perhaps most pertinently of all, the absolute lack of proper consultation with the locals, we are looking at a Government who could learn from Roy Keane’s mantra: when you fail to prepare you’re simply preparing to fail.
Contrary to the shrieks of the professionally disgruntled and left-wing ideologues, simply having a different opinion on immigration doesn’t make you a racist or, their favourite slur, a “fascist”.
But it flies in the face of the facts and the evidence to deny those people are out there – and if social media is anything to go by, they’re growing in number.
Maybe Grealish honestly got his sums wrong and forgot he had actually received the real figures before he dropped his bomb in the Dáil.
Maybe he’s too embarrassed to publicly apologise.
Maybe Murphy simply forgot to cite precedent in other countries and wasn’t simply engaging in the latest form of rabble rousing.
Maybe.
But when the zeitgeist seems to be moving towards a truly rotten scenario where race will for, the first time, be an active element in the next general election, it was genuinely baffling to see our Taoiseach adopt such a laissez-faire approach to his Wexford candidate.
After all, can anyone blame the voters for looking askance at a man who can’t show leadership within his own party while at the same time asking us to trust him to lead the country?
But if any politician thinks there might be a few easy votes in playing the race card (usually while uttering the weasel’s caveat that they are “only asking questions”), they need to be careful.
For while it is true that the people get the politicians they deserve, politicians should be mindful that casual race baiting means they might get the voters they deserve, too.
And when it comes to this increasingly toxic issue, no self-respecting democrat should want those people voting for them.
Having said that, Friday’s results will be fascinating…
Source: Read Full Article