Little cars won't save us money

REARVIEW:If Brian Cowen turned up for a meeting with Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, wearing an Offaly shirt and a pair of jeans from Penneys, people would be jumping up and down demanding to know why the Taoiseach was dressed that way.

They would be calling Joe Duffy’s radio show, writing strongly worded letters to the newspapers or standing up in the Dáil demanding answers.

So why are people falling over themselves demanding that the Taoiseach and his ministers ditch their State-funded Mercs, Audis and Volvos so they can be transported around in small family cars? It is no more than a misplaced sense of fairness and a desire to send out the right message.

(Others are using the issue to score cheap political points but you know who you are.)

The argument is that getting rid of or radically reducing the fleet would save money, free up Garda drivers to catch criminals and show the general public that those in charge are suffering the effects of the recession too.

Ditching the fleet and replacing it with a bunch of Corollas or Puntos probably would save very little, given the huge depreciation the existing vehicles have suffered since they rolled off the assembly line. It would do nothing to reduce the deficit or keep hospital wards open. The idea that we should abandon our Government ministers to the care of regular civil servants, rather than trained gardaí should be resisted too.

It is always a crowd-pleaser to call for the replacement of the ministerial fleet. Nobody will call you unkind names for suggesting it.

It is up there with calls for the jailing of bankers, the arrest of muggers, or pleas for more sunshine during the summer months.

The country needs to find €15 billion over the next four years. Scrapping the ministerial fleet would not put a dent in that. It would be a meaningless gesture.

If we are to follow through with the logic of the argument, our beautiful public buildings such as Farmleigh, Dáil Éireann and Áras an Uachtaráin would be sold off to the highest bidders as the ministers and their staff decamp to the ghost estates.

Have the lunatics taken over the asylum? The cars represent the symbol of office, however much the individuals in those roles fail to live up the honour it bestows.