Govt needs to get back into engine room

A famous line from the Tennyson poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', recalling the British cavalry charge against superior Russian forces during the Crimean War in 1854, reads 'Into the valley of death rode the 600'. It is a sentiment the leader of Fianna Fail could well identify with as the beleagured party faces into a general election knowing it is more than likely to be cut to ribbons by an electorate waiting for its chance to exact retribution. By the time this newspaper hits the shops on Tuesday evening, it is likely Fianna Fail TDs will have chosen who they want to lead the party into that election. Speculation among media commentators right up to the start of the meeting was that Taoiseach Brian Cowen would carry the day, promising business as usual. If his challenger Micheál Martin were to win, the task of rebuilding Fianna Fail and dragging it up from its 14 per cent poll rating will begin. The reality is that, regardless of the outcome of Tuesday night's confidence motion proposed by Mr Cowen and voted on in secret by members of the parliamentary party, the Taoiseach has been living on borrowed time for the last several months, starting with the infamous 'Garglegate' episode last September when he sounded the worse for wear in a live early morning radio interview after a late night in the bar of a Galway hotel. His poor handling of the humiliating arrival of the EU/IMF bailout teams in Dublin compounded the belief that he was damaged goods, and the latest revelations of his associations with former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick on a golf course in Wicklow has further weakened his position. Mr Cowen has presided over a huge haemorrhage of support for his party amid the collapse of the economy and banking sector and which has seen Irish living standards in freefall. For this Taoiseach, whether or not he wins his confidence motion and leads the party for the next couple of months, his legacy is already written. Mr Cowen is an amiable and essentially decent man who commands great loyalty from those who support him, but his poor communications skills and poor judgment in recent times have left him vulnerable. Fianna Fail will, in all likelihood, find itself with Sinn Fein making up the bulk of the opposition by late spring and sitting across the Dail chamber from a reinvigorated Fine Gael and Labour coalition. The FF party has never before found itself in the position of having to face into an election knowing that it is facing certain defeat and probably a prolonged period out of government. Essentially, it appears so weakened and riven by division that it cannot even organise a proper leadership coup. What is frustrating for ordinary people watching on from the sidelines is that the FF leadership challenge is proving to be a major distraction from the work of governing the country over the course of the past week at a time when Ireland's economic fortunes remain on life support. The affairs of state have once again taken a back seat while Fianna Fail settles its domestic issues. With this matter now put to bed, the sole focus for the rest of this government's term, however long that might be, needs to remain on running the country - being “down in the engine room†as Finance Minister Brian Lenihan referred to it in a radio interview just ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary party meeting. The Finance Bill, which underpins the decisions announced in the budget last month, should be published without undue delay, debated promptly and passed, paving the way for a general election to be called within a short time after that. A strong, cohesive government that is not distracted by internal party squabbling is what this country is crying out for, an administration that can give its people hope and some measure of confidence for the future, two things that have been distinctly lacking in recent years. It is now time to give the people what they want.