HEART BEAT: Sir Walter was not writing about our ruling elves but his lines below are very applicable. We are being saturated by news of a squabble among these elves as to who gets what and when. A junior elf is piqued because he wasn't promoted. By all accounts he is a nice and capable elf and some of his fellows are muttering (softly, of course) that he has been poorly treated.
With more than mortal powers endow'd
How high they soar'd above the crowd!
Theirs was no common party race,
Jostling by dark intrigue for place.
(Sir Walter Scott, Nelson, Pitt, Fox)
They are blaming Chief Elf Bertie although for obvious reasons they are not doing it too stridently. Accordingly, we are all witnessing this fascinating duel, handbags at 10 paces. Perhaps the disappointed elf would do well to remember those famous words quoted in his father's time - "Uno Duce, Una Voce". There has to be a boss and life is not always fair.
What intrigues me is the presumption that the rest of us who don't belong to this tribe are greatly interested in this spat over a junior ministry and whatever tiresome Machiavellian manoeuvres influenced such an appointment.
I suspect that the outcome is not greatly going to affect the rest of us, for good or ill. I wish they would all just get on with running the country in a way that benefits all of us and not just the members of their own tribe and their cronies.
I am also bothered by a sort of "Buggins turn" mentality being displayed which seems to postulate that promotion might be gained on seniority rather than ability, although that is not an issue here.
An equally disturbing issue is that it seems tamely accepted that somehow geography tallies with political and administrative ability. Most folk, I suspect, don't give a damn what constituencies our ministerial elves come from as long as they are competent and caring. This geographical spread suits not the people, but rather the Government of the day and its maintenance in power. It's high time we grew up.
We are now almost in that paralysing interregnum that heralds an upcoming election. This is the time when old promises are dusted down and presented to the gullible (us) as shining new initiatives. It is time for pouring scorn on the notion that anybody else could govern the country and to hint with varying degrees of arrogance that we are lucky to have you all looking after us.
Problem is we've had you now for almost 10 years and I guess it's almost time for the reckoning. Has yours been a careful, prudent, caring stewardship? Did you accomplish what you had promised to do? Should you be allowed to continue in office or could somebody else do it better? These are the kind of questions to be pondered by the electors who, in the final analysis, will have to make up their own minds.
I read with interest a recent interview with the Chief Elf in a Sunday newspaper. I suppose it was fairly predictable; the firing of the first salvos of the election battle. I think in one salient and pertinent point it made an assertion that is just plain wrong. I and many others would maintain that the Celtic Tiger cub was birthed and already growing when this Chief Elf took office. Nobody would cavil with his assertion and his pride in the fact that it has continued to thrive. Sadly, however, many feel that the fruits of that growth have been mis-applied and indeed in many instances simply squandered. The examples are too numerous to list, but each passing day appears to bring another.
Please let's make a sensible decision as regards the new children's hospital and not waste the vast sum already expended on the Mater/Temple Street site. We can do without another addition to the list of costly debacles.
I note with interest the composition of the board appointed to make this decision and again mark the absence of working doctors. Do I infer from the composition of the board that St James's is not among the options being considered? People less kind than I might worry about possible conflicts of interest.
I feel that much of our prosperity has been wasted. With our affluence we could have created a modern inclusive caring state for all our people and not just the chosen few.
It is a grey cold wet day here in Kerry as I write and is in keeping with the dispiriting realisation over the past few days that "they haven't gone away, you know". Martin McGuiness pointed out to election workers that their party might hold the balance of power after the next election. This is not a prospect that anybody should view with equanimity. Especially is this so, noting the refusal of the Sinn Féin mayor of Kerry to condemn the murder of Det Garda Jerry McCabe. She would not single out one incident out of 3,000 in "the war". How is that for breathtaking effrontery? The guns that murdered Jerry McCabe are thankfully silent, but the delusion and malice that killed him are sadly very much alive.
People have to stand firm in one place on the issue of good and evil. It is refreshing therefore to see that Councillor John O'Connor and the Fine Gael group on Kerry County Council have tabled a vote of no confidence in the mayor. It was interesting to see who stood with them. Good for you Councillor John "Porridge" O'Connor - you stand squarely for the good people who have no truck with evil.
Maurice Neligan is a cardiac surgeon.