Opposition puts spotlight on pledges but Enda justifies the means

DÁIL SKETCH:THEY GOT a bit above themselves before the election. Some promises were made that could never be fulfilled.

But as the Taoiseach stands firm in the noisy aftermath, you get the feeling that he passionately believes in one thing: the Enda justifies the means.

Yes, he held out a few hostages to fortune during the battle for Dáil seats and he is being embarrassed by them now. But he also won a cast-iron majority which gives him the leverage to drive through his Government’s programme of correction and cuts.

So he can dig in his heels and dismiss his critics for pulling him up over a few promises delivered before he got into power and discovered the full extent of our penury.

Twice yesterday, the leader of the Opposition asked him about his pre-election promises and twice the Taoiseach called his questions “pathetic”. Enda can bluster all he likes, but he and his lieutenants have been caught, bang to rights, making statements to voters which had no realistic chance of coming true.

The Opposition see the chink in his armour. Micheál Martin had the crowbar out during Leaders’ Questions, trying in vain to exploit it. And when he ran out of steam, Gerry Adams took his turn to lean on it a little further.

Micheál believes the Government used spin to win the election and then spoofed the people about what great things they would do in their first 100 days in office.

As he said on Tuesday: “The 100 days lark was a gimmick.”

To which the Taoiseach replied, with a knowing look to a baffled press gallery: “A lark is never a gimmick.” We’re still trying to figure that one out.

Deputy Martin’s continuing concerns made no odds to Enda yesterday.

The Taoiseach donned his rose-tinted spectacles and recalled how Fine Gael, before the election, said the party “was not going to go down the route of endless promises of restoring places that had been closed down”.

Perhaps, amid the incredulous snorts from across the chamber, he forgot to add those promises about places that were still open, but facing closure.

It’s just as well the buses of protesters from Roscommon hadn’t arrived in Kildare Street yet, or that Ming Flanagan wasn’t in the chamber for the exchange, because his roars would have shattered the chandeliers.

Once again, Micheál Martin waved the letter sent by James Reilly, now the Minister for Health, to the voters of Roscommon, promising them the divil and all when it came to their local health services. Gerry Adams weighed in with the assurances made to voters in others areas of the country.

Their concerns were swatted away by a Taoiseach secure in his majority, even if some of his troops are suffering a vicious backlash in their constituencies.

There was talk that Roscommon deputy Denis Naughten would vote against his party over the hospital issue last night. He duly defied the whip, which could be perceived as embarrassing for the Government.

But Enda has so much backbench ballast on board he can afford to drop a few deputies and still stay comfortably afloat.

He goaded the Fianna Fáil leader over his own record while minister for health. The backbenchers joined in, giving Micheál and Gerry such a hard time that they both had to beseech the Ceann Comhairle for protection.

The Sinn Féin leader complained that the “rí-rá” from across the floor was “unedifying”.

The Taoiseach thinks the same of his Opposition. Once more, he played his trump card – Enda justifying the means again – this time returning to Micheál’s complaint that he reneged on his promise to publish report cards on Ministers’ progress in office.

Voice dripping with sarcasm he said: “If you want to go down the road of having report cards, stick with that; if that’s where your limit is . . . stay with it, you’re doing well. We’ve got a bigger picture here to sort out, namely, the challenge that faces our country.” And there you have it.

Enda is sticking to his guns and thus far, he gives no impression that he is a man for turning. Unlike, he would argue, the previous administration, which couldn’t resist being all things to all men. When Micheál and Gerry go on the attack with what he sees as peripheral issues, the Taoiseach gathers up the tattered remnant of our sovereignty and holds it close. “Attack me, would yis, and me with poor Mother Ireland in me arms?”

That’s his, and our, broader picture. When viewed against the greater good, what’s a few election promises? And with that, Enda justifies the means.