Nobody is laughing as nation gets left in lurch...
We are at the brink of being ungovernable as our absentee political class flee the Dail...
This may have been the week where the political establishment was caught with its trousers down around its ankles but nobody is laughing.
It is not often these days that Leinster House is a catalyst for Christmas images but there was more than a small element of that much loved children's poem 'The Night Before Christmas' surrounding the latest Dail debacle.
On 'black Wednesday' the worst exchequer figures in the history of the State were announced, but in the Dail 'not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse'.
One supposes we shouldn't have expected anything better.
Those absentee Ascendancy landlords who allowed Ireland to rot during the great famine may be one of the most reviled groups in Irish history but, as the economy experiences its worst shock since the famine, it appears as though we have our own home-grown absentee Government.
In fairness it should be noted our permanently dyspeptic Taoiseach was home alone in Tullamore recovering from the horrors of an interview with The Star.
Ironically, in the midst of a series of churlish responses Mr Cowen refused to rule out the possibility of a state of the nation address at some date in the future.
Well Brian, if there was ever a good time to make a state of the nation address, last Wednesday was the day.
But of course as with every other opportunity Mr Cowen has had to bring the nation with him, a politically butter-fingered Taoiseach flunked his chance.
Instead as Ireland, even with the support of the euro, continues to slide towards an Icelandic-style economic abyss it looks as though the only sightings we will have of the man whose job it is to unite the nation will consist of surly Sunday scowls in Croke Park.
Of course the Taoiseach's increasingly bewildered defenders will say Mr Cowen is the great man for tradition and within the Mallory Towers-style environs of Leinster House the great tradition is that during the month of August 'school's out baby'.
However, whilst it might have been acceptable for our politicians to experience the sort of holidays that were normally reserved for 17th Century aristocrats on the grand tour of Europe, we know they're simply not worth it any more.
And whilst the Finance Minister has been up until the early hours quite a lot recently, how hard would it be to appear on the six one news for 10 minutes to give the public a steer on how we are all getting on in this great national odyssey?
It's called respect Brian.
Oh wait, that explains the absence.
Though there was nothing exceptional about the sight of this government dealing with a crisis with all of the force of dozing Nile crocodiles, it was harder to explain the absence of the Opposition response.
They will of course say the shutdown of the Dail by the Government means there is little point in having a presence in Leinster House.
But the Opposition has to be bold and find innovative ways to ensure their message (if they actually have one) is heard for, if they cannot do it now, how can we believe they would make any difference in Government?
Last week there was a gap in the political market but astonishingly, with the match effectively conceded by the Government, the Opposition failed to field a team.
It should of course be noted that Enda is apparently still in the country. However, the veil of mystery surrounding his activities meant that for all we know the FG leader could be writing a great philosophical treatise on the fall of the Tiger or bucklepping around a heap of rural parishes telling jokes and acting the goat.
In truth -- and we know which option our money is on -- we suspect Enda's absence did not make a whole pile of difference.
However, the public might have been consoled if Eamon Gilmore had turned up on every television station in the land calling for the return of the Dail.
Instead we were told our man was resting up in preparation for the dramas that are bound to come at the end of the month.
On one level the Labour leader's stance is understandable for we will need clear heads and a fuller understanding of the complexities of Nama than Mr Gilmore displayed earlier this year if this country is to survive.
However, one might have thought that a bit of prescience would have told him to postpone any time in the hammock until after the August bank-holiday weekend.
We are reluctant to criticise Richard Bruton or Joan Burton for their absence for no politician has been more prescient or brave in his analysis of the economy than Bruton whilst Burton is the most impressive Opposition front bencher we have seen since Maire Geoghegan Quinn destroyed Michael Noonan.
Sadly, in spite of all their fine work, no one could blame the voters if they looked up from our economic debacle and included them in the long list of politicians who appear to have abandoned the people.
This might not be a 'nuanced' position but, unlike the Dail, recessions do not go on holidays and Ireland is now a scared place which is beginning to seethe over the great failure of the political class to rescue the people.
Already the young are fleeing our zombie nation at a rate not seen since the 1950s when anthropologists wondered if Pat would suffer the same fate as the Red Indians.
And though the Thomas Cook affair or the pharmacist's polite rebellion against our authoritarian political misfit of a Health Minister were not the modern equivalent of the miners' strike, there are some far hairier beasts still coming down the tracks.
A great crisis of confidence in the institutions of the State is beginning to accelerate. Voters believe that Nama is an exercise in deceit that cannot work because its existence is predicated on the same concepts and personnel who got the country into this mess in the first place.
People are looking at the spectacle of the Thomas Cook ladies being dragged into the courts with far greater alacrity than any banking executive and asking just whose interests are being looked after.
And all of this is not just happening because of bad luck.
Instead the country is at the point of becoming ungovernable as a result of the failure of the political class to govern.
The voters look to their political leaders for answers and all they get in return is the hunched shoulder, the turned back and then finally a complete absence.
Our disappeared politicians would be wise to realise that a constitutional democracy is not some divinely created entity that has fallen from the sky.
Its legitimacy is instead derived from the consent of the governed (sorry about that Mr Cowen) and last week's great diaspora has done serious damage.
In the armed forces one of the most serious charges a soldier can face is that of being absent without leave.
Last week, and not for the first time either, the political process left itself open to a similar charge.
In better times they used to shoot deserters.
The good news for this lot, in so far as there is any, is that our voters may punish them by smiling falsely at the pollsters before they take the opposite route and vote no to Lisbon.
Report John Drennan - Sunday Independent
We are at the brink of being ungovernable as our absentee political class flee the Dail...
This may have been the week where the political establishment was caught with its trousers down around its ankles but nobody is laughing.
It is not often these days that Leinster House is a catalyst for Christmas images but there was more than a small element of that much loved children's poem 'The Night Before Christmas' surrounding the latest Dail debacle.
On 'black Wednesday' the worst exchequer figures in the history of the State were announced, but in the Dail 'not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse'.
One supposes we shouldn't have expected anything better.
Those absentee Ascendancy landlords who allowed Ireland to rot during the great famine may be one of the most reviled groups in Irish history but, as the economy experiences its worst shock since the famine, it appears as though we have our own home-grown absentee Government.
In fairness it should be noted our permanently dyspeptic Taoiseach was home alone in Tullamore recovering from the horrors of an interview with The Star.
Ironically, in the midst of a series of churlish responses Mr Cowen refused to rule out the possibility of a state of the nation address at some date in the future.
Well Brian, if there was ever a good time to make a state of the nation address, last Wednesday was the day.
But of course as with every other opportunity Mr Cowen has had to bring the nation with him, a politically butter-fingered Taoiseach flunked his chance.
Instead as Ireland, even with the support of the euro, continues to slide towards an Icelandic-style economic abyss it looks as though the only sightings we will have of the man whose job it is to unite the nation will consist of surly Sunday scowls in Croke Park.
Of course the Taoiseach's increasingly bewildered defenders will say Mr Cowen is the great man for tradition and within the Mallory Towers-style environs of Leinster House the great tradition is that during the month of August 'school's out baby'.
However, whilst it might have been acceptable for our politicians to experience the sort of holidays that were normally reserved for 17th Century aristocrats on the grand tour of Europe, we know they're simply not worth it any more.
And whilst the Finance Minister has been up until the early hours quite a lot recently, how hard would it be to appear on the six one news for 10 minutes to give the public a steer on how we are all getting on in this great national odyssey?
It's called respect Brian.
Oh wait, that explains the absence.
Though there was nothing exceptional about the sight of this government dealing with a crisis with all of the force of dozing Nile crocodiles, it was harder to explain the absence of the Opposition response.
They will of course say the shutdown of the Dail by the Government means there is little point in having a presence in Leinster House.
But the Opposition has to be bold and find innovative ways to ensure their message (if they actually have one) is heard for, if they cannot do it now, how can we believe they would make any difference in Government?
Last week there was a gap in the political market but astonishingly, with the match effectively conceded by the Government, the Opposition failed to field a team.
It should of course be noted that Enda is apparently still in the country. However, the veil of mystery surrounding his activities meant that for all we know the FG leader could be writing a great philosophical treatise on the fall of the Tiger or bucklepping around a heap of rural parishes telling jokes and acting the goat.
In truth -- and we know which option our money is on -- we suspect Enda's absence did not make a whole pile of difference.
However, the public might have been consoled if Eamon Gilmore had turned up on every television station in the land calling for the return of the Dail.
Instead we were told our man was resting up in preparation for the dramas that are bound to come at the end of the month.
On one level the Labour leader's stance is understandable for we will need clear heads and a fuller understanding of the complexities of Nama than Mr Gilmore displayed earlier this year if this country is to survive.
However, one might have thought that a bit of prescience would have told him to postpone any time in the hammock until after the August bank-holiday weekend.
We are reluctant to criticise Richard Bruton or Joan Burton for their absence for no politician has been more prescient or brave in his analysis of the economy than Bruton whilst Burton is the most impressive Opposition front bencher we have seen since Maire Geoghegan Quinn destroyed Michael Noonan.
Sadly, in spite of all their fine work, no one could blame the voters if they looked up from our economic debacle and included them in the long list of politicians who appear to have abandoned the people.
This might not be a 'nuanced' position but, unlike the Dail, recessions do not go on holidays and Ireland is now a scared place which is beginning to seethe over the great failure of the political class to rescue the people.
Already the young are fleeing our zombie nation at a rate not seen since the 1950s when anthropologists wondered if Pat would suffer the same fate as the Red Indians.
And though the Thomas Cook affair or the pharmacist's polite rebellion against our authoritarian political misfit of a Health Minister were not the modern equivalent of the miners' strike, there are some far hairier beasts still coming down the tracks.
A great crisis of confidence in the institutions of the State is beginning to accelerate. Voters believe that Nama is an exercise in deceit that cannot work because its existence is predicated on the same concepts and personnel who got the country into this mess in the first place.
People are looking at the spectacle of the Thomas Cook ladies being dragged into the courts with far greater alacrity than any banking executive and asking just whose interests are being looked after.
And all of this is not just happening because of bad luck.
Instead the country is at the point of becoming ungovernable as a result of the failure of the political class to govern.
The voters look to their political leaders for answers and all they get in return is the hunched shoulder, the turned back and then finally a complete absence.
Our disappeared politicians would be wise to realise that a constitutional democracy is not some divinely created entity that has fallen from the sky.
Its legitimacy is instead derived from the consent of the governed (sorry about that Mr Cowen) and last week's great diaspora has done serious damage.
In the armed forces one of the most serious charges a soldier can face is that of being absent without leave.
Last week, and not for the first time either, the political process left itself open to a similar charge.
In better times they used to shoot deserters.
The good news for this lot, in so far as there is any, is that our voters may punish them by smiling falsely at the pollsters before they take the opposite route and vote no to Lisbon.
Report John Drennan - Sunday Independent