What I Perceive as Ridiculous

Another resignation. This one's due to back pain. No (apparent or visible) scandal.

The margin the government has over the opposition is now only 4 votes. (Had Lee stayed it would have been three!) The Dail was voting on order of business last Thursday, and I asked assistant Brian, why doesn't the whip and Edna Kenny make sure every single Fine Gael member is in for every single vote and put pressure on the Government? Background-- just like the US, members are hardly ever in the chamber, sometimes they aren't even in the building. They'll come in for a vote--a LOUD bell rings in every room of the buildings when there's a vote, but if they aren't there, they aren't there. So Brian tells me it wouldn't matter because they pair off. Then he explains that the majority whip calls the minority whip, says we've got 3 gone, and the minority whip calls three deputies and they abstain from voting. This seems crazy to me. Especially when they'll do it even when the number of Finna Foil people gone wouldn't lose them the Majority… even when they'll still win! They still want the vote to reflect their margin of excess seats--now 4. Does this make sense to anyone?

I asked Brian if that's in the constitution, and he said no, thats just what they do. I asked him what the benefit for the minority party is, and he said, thats just how we do it. It boggles my mind. Seriously.

Now, what lead to my question was the debate I saw in the Dail about the order of business. It was two fold. One, Fine Gael wanted an immediate discussion on a news story that broke: Thousands and thousands of referral letters sent to the Tallaght Hospital had been unopened. And 58,000 X-rays had been ignored by the consultant radiologists. Government voted against that. Mainly because the parties oppose everything the other does, but also because the Minister for health was on a "state visit" to New Zealand. pictured above--this is not anything I've seen, unfortunately [The Labour party leader said the trip, "reads more like the Lord of the Rings trail than it does like a State visit; the only thing missing is dinner hosted by Bilbo Baggins"] The second fold was having the Dail, (which is now adjourned until the 23rd of March) stay late for discussions and questions and answers on the situation. The Government voted against that too. More and more, the Irish political system seems like such a joke. The Government is in complete control and they are barely held to account for anything. Its ridiculous. The opposition cant get anything done. All they can do is criticize. Besides their constituent work, I don't think they are actually productive. Maybe I haven't dug in far enough yet...