Having failed to dispel the perception of the electorate that it is not honouring its pre-election promises last month, the Coalition Government has embarked upon a parallel exercise designed to show its performance over the past year in a positive light. The Government should stop digging.
The public will decide in its own good time whether the achievements trumpeted by the Coalition are worthy of consideration. And voters will not be persuaded by further grandiose claims that have little relevance to the experience of expensive day-to-day living.
The Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll of May 16th may be the reason for this sudden flurry of activity. Clearly that survey disturbed the Government when its satisfaction rating was shown to have plummeted to 28 per cent, from 61 per cent at election time, a year earlier. The satisfaction rating for the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was the lowest ever recorded. And more than 80 per cent of those questioned held the view that the Government had failed to keep its election promises on health and the economy.
Yesterday's glossy 80-page justification of the Government's performance during the past 12 months was to have been released last week. But intensive criticism of the Government's assertion that it had not broken election promises is thought to have delayed its launch. Furthermore, it was only with reluctance that the Taoiseach agreed to answer questions about this document and the performance of the Government at the press conference. In such circumstances, the public would be wise to be wary. Voters should bear in mind that Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats are desperately trying to rekindle public confidence in their stewardship in advance of next year's local and European elections.
The Coalition Government sought to blame the opposition parties for creating the impression that it misled the public, broke its promises and mishandled the economy. It should not take the people for complete fools. Of course the opposition parties have jumped on a rolling bandwagon. But evidence of broken promises can be found in the areas of health, education and other departments. And stuttering economic growth has failed to impress people grown used to double-digit figures.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, is correct when she says the downturn in the international economy was more severe and prolonged than anticipated. The unemployment rate is much lower than the European average. But unemployment here has grown rapidly in the past year. Inflation is now double the European average. And the Government is partly responsible for that situation because of indirect taxes and public charges.
The global recession began more than two years ago, and not at election time. The Government relaxed the purse strings and only began to cut expenditure after the votes were counted. Instead of Government spin and gloss, people would prefer to be told the bad news as it is more likely to be true.