Parties wrestle to take budget credit

There are not many inside or outside Leinster House popping the champagne after yesterday's budget announcement.

Those wandering the corridors of power know a budget backlash can be days in the making.

Instead they are wrestling over who can take credit for what. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents are tripping over themselves to tell us what we should thank them for.

Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin and Shane Ross engaged in a tug of war over who loves elderly people more.

The three men are trying to portray themselves as the ‘Pensioner Protector’ - a hero who will stop at nothing to ensure fairness for the elderly.

The budget was purely political, a carve-up between three sides eager to outmanoeuvre the other.

Was Fianna Fáil, for all its political wiliness, exposed on this occasion? In July its social protection spokesman, Willie O’Dea, told the Sunday Independent his party would not settle for anything less than a €5 increase in the State pension.

It was seen as a genius move by the party. An increase in the pension was its win, and no attempt from Fine Gael or the Independents could wrestle it away from Fianna Fáil.

But a week ago Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar questioned why Fianna Fáil had not focused its attentions on other vulnerable groups. What about carers, the disabled, widows, lone parents?

In one fell swoop Varadkar had picked holes in Fianna Fáil’s focus on fairness.

Few follow these things as closely as we do. The pensioners will only remember Fianna Fáil gave them an extra fiver - and to the party that is all that really matters.

Varadkar went one step further than Fianna Fail. He did not focus all the benefits on one section of society. He spread the load evenly, increasing welfare payments for the disabled, jobseekers, widows, those on invalidity pension and the blind pension.

Fine Gael will be hoping that decision will win the party wider support than their nearest rivals.

Outside Leinster House, however, there are many scratching their heads over where their budget windfall is.

They endured months of lectures on how the recovery is under way and that a fairer Ireland was on the way.

The reductions in Universal Social Charge are minimal. The childcare package, while a good start, goes nowhere near meeting the burden on families. The first-time buyers' scheme is questionable and has the potential to drive house prices up. The rental crisis remains unsolved.

The sheep got more than most in a budget designed to secure votes for an election they tell us is three years away.

*Wondering what the budget means for you? Ask the experts on ourlive blog.

Deja vu over Garda whistleblower allegations

Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan will appear before an Oireachtas committee today as the calls for her head on a plate continue.

Ms O’Sullivan will face intense questioning over her handling of the latest allegations of harassment and intimidation by a Garda whistleblower.

Our story is here: Nóirín O’Sullivan to defend Garda attitude to whistleblowers (via @IrishTimes)

The situation feels like deja vu. A Garda makes an allegation, the Government ducks for cover, the media coverage starts to build, and the Government is forced to act.

All the while, some politicians call for the resignation of a Minister and a Garda Commissioner.

Alan Shatter and Martin Callinan fell on their swords. It achieved little and changed nothing.

What has altered though is the perception that everyone is guilty of the crimes they are accused of. Sergeant Maurice McCabe exposed failures in the system and blew the whistle on a number of failures by the force.

The media and the majority of politicians ignored McCabe and those who promoted his cause. That was wrong.

But that does not mean that every allegation of corruption or harassment is accurate or that the people involved are guilty of the charge against them.

Noirin O’Sullivan has a lot of questions to answer about her role in the Garda whistleblower controversies – not least why she did not challenge Martin Callinan’s claims that Maurice McCabe was disgusting for alleging wrongdoing in the force.

However, her resignation would, like that of her predecessor, achieve little and change nothing.

In my eyes, those who make protected disclosures must be shielded and protected rather than named in the media and used as pawns in the Dáil.

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission must be given appropriate powers and resources to ensure proper scrutiny of the force rather than running to a member of the judiciary every time an accusation is made.

Otherwise it will be endless allegations and few answers.