There may be, among certain voters, a temptation to take revenge on the outgoing Government for its many failures, writes Fintan O'Toole.
They could imagine an election as a chance to hold the Government responsible for throwing away hundreds of millions of euro, for ethical lapses, and for failing to deliver basic services like clean water. But the temptation should be resisted because the Taoiseach and his Ministers are not responsible for very much. They have told us so themselves. Here is a brief guide, in their own words, to 15 things they are not responsible for:
1. Micheál Martin, questioned by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children in April 2005 on the scandal of nursing-home charges during his term as minister for health:
Liz McManus: Who is responsible?
MM: I accept the conclusion of the Travers report that it was a long-term systemic corporate failure.
LMcM: Is he saying that, as minister, he does not bear any responsibility for this?
MM: I am, I do not.
2. Bertie Ahern on the electronic voting debacle in the Dáil, April 2007:
"Any waste of money on the voting system lies at the Opposition's door."
3. Bertie Ahern on the unanswered questions about the purchase of his house, May 2007:
"Surely, surely I'm not responsible if Vincent Browne bought a house and Vincent Browne gave somebody to administer the money for that house and that person administers the money on that house and the bills are all sent to a tribunal. All the bills relating to that money are all given to a tribunal and therefore then I . . . I . . . I should be answering that?"
4. Bertie Ahern on the Government's failure to meet its Kyoto Treaty commitments on climate change, Dáil, March 2006:
"I am not responsible for the planet, as the deputy is aware."
5. Bertie Ahern on the disastrous cost overruns on the PPARS health computing system, Dáil, October 2006: "[The project] is led by the HSE's national director of services. That person is responsible for co-ordinating the activity and is implementing the project."
6. Bertie Ahern, on the same day in the Dáil, on the State's pursuit of legal costs against a woman who was abused by her primary school teacher and unsuccessfully sued the State:
"I am not responsible for the lady pursuing the case to the Supreme Court - that is her right. So I have no comment to make about that."
7. Bertie Ahern in the Dáil, May 1999, on his signing of blank cheques for Charles Haughey:
"I signed cheques when I was asked to, but was not responsible for the accounts."
8. Mary Hanafin, Minister for Education, on the fact that Ireland has some of the largest primary school classes in Europe, speaking in the Seanad, February 2006: "It is completely unacceptable that any school has 40 or more children in a classroom. That is not my fault."
9. Martin Cullen, environment minister at the time, on the €1 million a year storage costs for his useless voting machines, Dáil, May 2004: "The costs are matters for local authorities and not matters for me. Does the deputy want me to do their job for them? . . . It is not my responsibility to know [how much it costs] . . . The taxpayers' money is looked after by the accounting officer, in the local authority . . . It is not a consequence of my decision."
10. Michael McDowell, Minister for Justice, on the collapse of drink-driving prosecutions, Dáil, November 2005:
"That is a matter for the DPP, who is independent. It is not my responsibility."
11. Mary Coughlan, Minister for Agriculture, on the nitrates directive, Dáil, February 2006:
". . . the nitrates directive is not my responsibility, but that of another minister."
12. Mary Coughlan on the Government's gross under-estimation of the cost to the exchequer of introducing medical cards for everyone over 70, Dáil, October 2002:
"That is not my responsibility, I am glad to say."
13. Mary Harney, then tánaiste, on the extension of the limits for donations to political parties, Dáil, March 2001:
"Electoral funding is not relevant to my ministry and is not one of my responsibilities."
14. Dick Roche, Minister for the Environment, in May 2007 on Galway's water crisis:
"I do not want to get into the blame game." He added, however, that "mistakes" had been made by local authority management and that "there certainly wasn't the degree of urgency that should have been put into this issue".
15. Dick Roche, in 2005, to environmental scientist Dr Roderick O'Sullivan, who presented him with evidence of the contamination of Lough Corrib and the threat to drinking water supplies: "Mr Roche said the local authorities were perfectly well handling Lough Corrib and that Ireland was a democracy . . . He would only listen to the voices of the people and at that moment . . . there were no voices of the people coming from Lough Corrib."
The Government is, of course, perfectly consistent and does not claim credit for the nice things that happened on its watch either.