The public wants to be told frankly the true scale of the crises we are facing
THERE ARE still major hurdles to overcome in tackling both the banking and employment crises but the Government’s first phase of cuts in public expenditure announced this week was viewed as credible by international financial commentators and has attracted a large degree of acceptance from the domestic audience.
The final decision may have been too long coming for some commentators but by waiting until now and making it after prolonged consultation with the social partners, the Government has contained opposition to the moves. If, as some have suggested, the Government unilaterally announced last summer that it was imposing both a public sector pay freeze until 2011 and a public sector pension levy averaging 8 per cent, there would have been near riots in the street. It is worth remembering that the Lehman Brothers collapse happened in September and it was some weeks again before the more intense phase of the international economic collapse.
It would have been preferable if the social partners all signed up to an agreed deal on Monday night but it was always a big ask to expect public sector unions to agree such a drastic cut in their members’ incomes. The last few weeks of negotiations did, however, have the effect of conditioning public sector workers for the scale of the cuts that the Government went on to announce.
Most commentators judged Brian Cowen’s speech to the Dáil announcing the cuts on Tuesday to be lacklustre. I read the speech the next day and, while it was no page-turner, it was a reasonably coherent text. His critics made much of the fact that the speech was televised, although when Dáil proceedings are televised mid-afternoon they generally attract minuscule audiences.
Like most workers in the country I did not see the speech being delivered. I did, however, see Cowen’s address to a televised press conference broadcast live by RTÉ’s Six One News. His performance was one of his best and it was watched by what is usually an audience in excess of 350,000. The impact of Tuesday evening’s televised speech has now been reinforced by his passionate address to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night.
Of course, in a world of gold-star political presentation, a national leader would put in a storming performance on every occasion they set out to communicate changes on this level. In such an ideal world even someone who had been up half the previous night trying to finalise a social partnership deal and spent the morning chairing a Cabinet meeting would be on top form all afternoon and evening.
The notion that Cowen is a bad communicator has become so ingrained in some sections of the commentariat that they can only view even a good performance through doom-tinted glasses. The content of several columns deriding his Dáil performance suggest they were filed before his more significant 6pm press conference.
Rightly or wrongly the Government seems to have concluded that it will not or cannot get a fair hearing from a relatively large cohort of political reporters, commentators and their editors. The current Taoiseach’s style does not lend itself to glowing colour writing. The nature and pace of economic events and their political consequences are such that the Government has, understandably, been the focus of both public anger and media irritation. In addition the Government has made some mistakes for which it is unlikely to be forgiven soon.
The Government’s best hope is to seek to reach over the heads not only of union leaders but also media commentators and seek to explain what it is doing and why to the public more directly. We can expect therefore to see more extended interviews on morning radio or evening TV, where there is at least time to get a message across and to deal comprehensively with the concerns in the minds of listeners as raised in questions from interviewers.
It would, of course, be better if those extended media opportunities were not undermined by footage of cranky Dáil exchanges. Parliamentary performance is important, but sadly, keynote Dáil occasions often now disintegrate into shouting matches between the leaders and catcall exchanges between backbenchers.
Whatever medium the Government uses there are five things the public wants them to do. First, it wants to be told frankly the true scale of the economic, employment and financial crises we are facing.
Secondly, the public wants to hear an explanation of how we got to our current state. To be credible such an explanation must include an Obama-like acknowledgment of its mistakes. While we are currently at the centre of an unprecedented global economic crisis, the public sees at least a portion of our problems as having been caused by bad domestic policies. Claims to the contrary will only antagonise it further.
Thirdly, the public wants explained to them the range of options available to address the difficulties along with the respective merits.
Fourthly, and most importantly, they want to hear detail on the option chosen by the Government and why they have chosen it.
Above all else the public needs to be reassured that the country can work through this crisis.