Coalition’s appraisal of its performance reads more like a fanzine than a critique

The Government’s report on its first four years in office was not exactly a whitewash. But it wasn’t far off it.

The very nature of a government assessing its own policies is this: successes will be trumpeted and failures will be, well, somewhere in between muted and silent. Consequently, the political weight is automatically devalued. Sure, the report published yesterday ran to 88 pages, but it was received as nothing more than an elongated press release.

In front of Government Buildings, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton officially launched the report, then all but ignored it in their subsequent comments. Kenny referred to progress on 90 per cent of the commitments in the Programme of Government, with a further 71 per cent of the targets set out in the Priority Statement last July, "delivered or substantially progressed".

Contradictory

The inadequacy of such reports is illustrated by the fact that the Taoiseach, in his remarks, contradicted its findings. He said the Government would unveil a new set of measures in April to deal with the “still unacceptably large number of families in long-term arrears still facing repossession of homes”.

Yet when you parse the report itself, there is ne’er a mention of it other than a soft reference to an increase in the number of long-term arrears, those over two years, “albeit at a declining rate”.

In the next sentence, we are assured: “Nearly 110,000 mortgage holders in arrears have had their loans restructured to make them more viable and over 80 per cent are meeting the terms of their new arrangements.”

Under review

Indeed, only two policies in the entire document are described as “under review”. They are the relatively minor plan for an international hub for emergency humanitarian supplies at Shannon Airport and direct elections for the Irish Sports Council.

Anyone who breathes could think of another dozen failures of Government, from the early failure to burn bondholders, to lost referendums, to the debacle surrounding water charges.

You would expect the Government to have included a few of the failures, such as plans that came to naught: VAT exemptions for service companies that export more than 90 per cent of their output; ending upward-only rent reviews; a single business tax for micro enterprises; a funding plan to increase home efficiency; and the drawing of a new national development plan for 2012 to 2019.

And don't forget the populist promise to ensure tax exiles make a fair contribution to the exchequer. It was clear that Michael Noonan was cold on it, so there was a review and it was kicked to touch.

The Government knows that what will be critical are decisions made over the next 12 months. It is the progress report that will come out next spring, otherwise known as a general election, that will determine Government success or failure.