Spinning Around

by Mike

This headline, on RTE.ie, shocked me and I have no doubt it will surprise everyone; “Murder up 50% over past three months”

Apparently there has been a total of 21 people murdered in July, August and September of this year, seven more than the same period for 2006. Does not show us how frightening a time we are living in?

If this were a race I think the authorities would be lagging well behind and we seem to have a government constantly looking for more time to adjust to “armed criminals”. The figures release by the Crime Statistics Office makes a recent statement by the Minister for Justice seem bizarre. He stated that, “The CSO figures show that there was no increase in headline crime in the 12 month period to 30 September 2007.”

Define headline crime? It sounds incredibly strange that they constantly grasp at straws in order to find something that can be spun in a positive light. I really would love a government to come out and say ‘Hey, we’ve been wrong before and we are wrong now.”

It will never happen I realise because most in the government do not seem to see what Ireland is anymore. Are we happy enough to let the gangs shoot each other until there is no one left, thereby doing the Gardai’s work for them? Are we happy for innocent people who are in the middle to be fearful of being caught up in this?

It really does make me wonder about the priorities of politicians. No wait, I retract that last line. I already know what a politician priority is; re-election. There is good work done and the hours put in every day has to be admired and commended. However for those that have a genuine interest in helping the public and doing what is right, there are many more who are prepared to do little or nothing until the next pay rise and base a career on it.

So maybe the Ministers and our Taoiseach should take note of a simple adage. The more you spin, the more things go out of control.

Thursday, October 25th, 2007 and is filed under Thoughts & Questions, Views on News.