It’s not easy being Bertie

by Mike

It’s not easy being the leader of the Republic of Ireland. I mean, how in all honesty could you even consider taking the job without being guaranteed the services of a butler?!

Anyone who reads this blog will realize that I am not a huge fan of Bertie Ahern. I’m sure he’s an everyman as a person and when he eventually steps away from his role he will be hailed by the man (and woman) on the street as a “great, great man”. As a political leader however I think he has fallen short in many categories and I am not just talking about the canary yellow jacket that he wore a few years back!

However I do have to question whether Mr. Ahern is still a man with the common touch, can he stand alongside you or me and say he understands what modern life is like? Can he say that the public transport debacle has gone on for too long and that he can understand how 60,000 people in and around the Harristown area are affected by the actions of Dublin Bus workers?

Can he honestly say he understands the plight of people who are, as I type this, sitting in a waiting room in a hospital hoping that they will not have to wait 6 hours or more to be seen? When he suggests that we tighten our belts because we will be in for a rough ride financially for the next while, is it the same person that happily takes a 38,000 euro pay rise and tries to convince us that he is as hard up as anyone else?

As I type this the radio is full of texts from people in major backlogs of traffic across Dublin. I wonder will Mr. Ahern have any problems, in the state sponsored car that he will be found in, on his way home tonight? I highly doubt it.

Most of the people [prominent world leaders] mentioned would not pay for a cup of tea from one end of the year to the other because they have catering staff in their homes and can use jets for social and other occasions…It would not be hard for a member of the media to write a glowing article about how poverty-stricken we are compared to other countries.

Bertie Ahern

He complains that all, Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny can do is be negative about the HSE instead of focusing on the good things they do. I am sure the HSE have a lot of good things that could be broadcast to the nation but will that even begin to balance things out? Will any of us believe it?

You preach pay restraints but you are by far and away the highest-paid world leader…You don’t have the White House, you don’t have the yachts or the private jet but you represent only four million people as against 250 million or 80 million or 50 million.

Enda Kenny

So what is left to do Mr Ahern? Would you just like to paper the cracks for as long as possible and then leave the mess for someone else to sort out? It’s working for George W. Bush and since you get paid more then he does now maybe it will work even better for you?

Thursday, November 15th, 2007 and is filed under Thoughts & Questions, Uncategorized, Views on News.