Sir, – All political parties, especially coming up to an election, prefer a simple, uncomplicated narrative of the past, and in many cases the twists and turns tend to be forgotten.
Sorting through some old papers, I came across an old 2002 election flyer by Fine Gael TD for Tipperary South Tom Hayes, when I was a fellow candidate. Entitled “The most neglected constituency in the country (under a Fianna Fáil-led Government)”, the very first item on his five-point indictment was “No Decentralisation”. Is this striking vindication of Fine Gael’s firm opposition to decentralisation, which was the impression created when the Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton came before the Oireachtas banking inquiry last week to defend Fine Gael’s role in opposition before the crash? Er, no. The punchline in Tom Hayes’s flyer was “Fine Gael in Government will stop the neglect”.
At most, Fine Gael was opposed to the extent and radical nature of the programme subsequently announced by Charlie McCreevy, which most people in Fianna Fáil would now accept was overambitious, and much of which was dropped by Brian Lenihan.
Decentralisation was brought to Tipperary with the Private Security Authority, and then the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) office. Then minister for justice Dermot Ahern turned the sod in the autumn of 2010, and his Fine Gael successor Alan Shatter graciously opened the INIS office a year later, as desired by all Tipperary public representatives, another illustration perhaps of the old French adage, “the more things change, the more they remain the same”, and of the large degree of continuity between governments, even when they are of different colours and constantly hammer on about their differences. – Yours, etc,
MARTIN MANSERGH,
Friarsfield,
Tipperary.