Mar. 26th, 2004
Here in Ireland we have an essentially conservative political system. That is to say, pretty much any party with more than three supporters is a conservative one, because it's the only way you can do things that get you support. Any given party will essentially maintain the status quo if they want to keep their seats in government. I keep saying "essentially" because we do occasionally make progress and/or changes, but for the most part, it's been decades of largely indistinguishable governments here. Of course, in any multiparty system, someone's gotta be the opposition, because there's not enough seats in our parliament to give one to everyone. And because everyone has more-or-less the same agenda, the only way the opposition can distinguish themselves during debates is to denounce whatever the in-power party/parties propose. Which presents you with a classic example of people who appear to be talking solely so that their mouths don't freeze up.
In the last week, we have had two very blatant examples of such occurrences:
In the last week, we have had two very blatant examples of such occurrences:
- The incumbents announced a new form of rubbish collection, whereby people would pay by weight for the rubbish they produce. I'm a little hazy on the exact workings - I seem to recall someone mentioning "smart" bins, while someone else suggested weighing units on the collection trucks - but on the whole I think this is an excellent idea, because it forces people to put some thought into what they're throwing out. Obviously some people will just toss heavier items into their neighbours' bins and so on, but hey.
The opposition comment on this was to slam it as being unfair because "some people might end up paying more for rubbish collection". - There's also the ongoing postal dispute. The Labour Relations Court, an independant arbiter ostensibly operated by the prevailing government, but in actuallity more a sort of non-partisan civil service unit which watches governments come and go, has stepped in and had (thus far fruitless) discussions with both sides.
The opposition comment is here: note the eminently useful statement that, "it would have to be resolved at some stage". And accusing the Government of not doing enough. The government cannot compel a solution here. I have no idea what Mr. Coveney expects them to do; march on the sorting office with police or armed forces?