The Irish Presidential election is on its way. It’ll be 3 months of pure hype, jammed radio lines, pointless TV debates where no conclusive result is ever reached and articles in the paper about which candidate has the best dress sense. Already its been crazy and in the midst of all the craziness, there’s unfortunately no rock of sense, no person to whom you can look and say, ‘He or She is the One for the House.’
In Ireland the abnormal can very quickly be seen as normal. A country which is fast developing dangerous Orwellian tendencies can now actually consider a man with pronounced views on incest and child abuse, David Norris, as a valid candidate for the Presidency. This is a country, remember, which has been ripped apart in recent years by discoveries that that hallowed institution, so dear to the hearts of Irish people, was home to the most cruel, sadistic child abusers that Ireland has perhaps ever seen. Lives, homes, communities, and indeed whole societies were wounded, sometimes fatally, by these revelations; yet we blindly embrace and endorse a man to be our President who holds these views. How completely contradictory and stupid can we be? Ireland should be rising from the battle, determined to become an international ambassador for vulnerable children and young people by showing an example in national policy and belief. Instead a man who endorses under-age sexual activity and says a case can be made for incest has the nerve to run for Presidency - indeed can top online polls and be nominated by members of government.
Lets look at another unbelievable situation. Imagine this: a man becomes a member of a party one day, and the next day is nominated by that party as their presidential candidate. Would that happen to me? No way. After years of ground work and building support I might garner enough guts to stand for a Local Council election - and then in all likelihood wouldn’t even get elected, because as we all know its usually second time successful. Then after a few more years I might get a seat in Leinster House; then after a few decades of fighting for the rights of the underprivileged or special needs children or in bridging the gap between warring factions in Limerick (using a new method which would soon prove to be successful with the drug gangs in Mexico City and the minority groups of South-East Ukraine) I might just feel confident enough to think about the Presidency. I would have to talk with other party members and logically assess my situation; standing for Party Nomination would require long speeches and promises and pledges, and then in the end I probably mightn’t even get it because there would be someone with much better qualifications (from Dublin, aristocratic background, key player in resolving Northern problem, Nobel Peace Prize winner etc) who would almost automatically receive it, and I would have to humbly bow out of the race and loyally support the nominee in every way I can.
Not so with Pat Cox. He can do in two days what the rest of us might hope to attain in a lifetime. He’s got a bit of an identity crisis I think, as he used to be an Independent, then he was part of Progressive Democrats and now of course he has taken a bit of a liking to Fine Gael. What Cox has though that makes him special are his friends in Europe, particularly those in the Spinelli group. And Europe have been pulling the strings in the Blueshirt party machine a bit. You see Ireland’s strong nationalistic spirit is hard one to crack and the powers that be are of the opinion that a strong European hand on the Irish helm could put a few things 'right'. But are they going to bludgeon their way through reality and force the impossible to happen? Apparently. They got Lisbon 2 passed, for example. I keep saying to myself, ‘This cannot happen! It’s wrong!’ but the personal opinion of the people and common sense just don’t seem to matter anymore.
So that’s the way it is at the moment. It’s just the beginning now and who knows what will happen during the next couple of months? In Ireland you expect the unexpected. I just hope that we won’t find ourselves descending further into the morass we’re in right now.
