Mick Clifford: Government authority ebbs away after a disastrous week

Manage all that and you can lie back and enjoy the remuneration and prestige that comes with having assailed the rungs of society to sit on the top of the ladder.

Now and then, a little more is asked of these leaders. During war, in the depths or an economic depression, or in the throes of a global pandemic, leaders are expected to convey the odd signal that they acknowledge what is being wreaked beyond the gilded confines of their elevated position.

In this respect it has been a disastrous week, in which a country, frustrated and angry over the pandemic, has been left bereft of proper leadership.

It started with the man from Ryanair. Not Mick the mouth, but his one-time deputy, Michael Cawley.

Mr Cawley was a good choice for chairman of Fáilte Ireland after his long career with the airline. He understands travel and tourism. He appears to have been making a good fist of his nice non-executive role.

Then along came the pandemic and tourism was front and centre, the industry devastated, the board attempting to lift it from its knees by spending fortunes in advertising to promote “staycations”.

You can staycation all you like but the man in charge of the tourism board headed off to Italy. Mr Cawley, when he was rumbled, explained that he had made a commitment to his family to take the holiday. That rang hollow to the thousands who had to forego all sorts of commitments in the name of national solidarity. Mr Cawley resigned, and rightly so.

On Thursday, the Irish Examiner broke the story of the Oireachtas golf society outing that was in complete breach of public health guidelines. Aoife-Grace Moore and Paul Hosford detailed the attendance at a function of 80 people, including senior politicians, a supreme court judge, an EU commissioner, and the head of the Irish Banking Federation.

Resignations rightly followed, but basic questions arise about how so many with leadership roles thought they were above and beyond the guidelines that apply to everybody else.

Did any among them for a second wonder how it might look when, not if, this got into the public domain? Surely such a collection of individuals, with their respective experience, knew that it would not remain inside the walls of the function room where they gathered?

Did any of them consider the funerals, weddings, children’s parties, family gatherings that have been foregone in order to comply with guidelines we have been told must be observed?

Or, to quote a tweet from the former health minister Simon Harris: “A right kick in the gut & middle finger to everyone in our country who has worked so hard & sacrificed so much, to everyone who has lost a loved one or been sick with Covid-19, to every frontline worker and to every responsible business owner who have suffered so much. Shameful.” 

Except Mr Harris wasn’t referencing the golf gathering there, but a group of relatively young punters who had a few moments of madness in the Berlin D2 venue in Dublin last weekend. Such strong words tend to be reserved for others than those who aspire to lead.

Coming in a week when the guidelines were tightened, and stress is mounting with the imminent reopening of schools, the gathering dealt a severe blow to the kind of national solidarity that is vital in tackling the virus.

The public understandably reacted with outrage at the most blatant example of double standards for those who are supposed to be leading.

Then we have the antics of another leader, Leo Varadkar. The farrago over mixed messaging is reported to have some of its origins in divisions in the Cabinet, opened up by Mr Varadkar.

Since the formation of the Government, the Fine Gael leader has given the impression that he doesn’t see his current role as subservient to that of the Taoiseach. He has repeatedly taken positions that appear designed to undermine Micheál Martin — a little dig here, a pre-emptive press briefing there.

Mr Varadkar appears to be gaming for a political future where his party capitalises on a Fianna Fáil slide towards irrelevancy. 

That’s standard fare in politics as usual, but we were told that the current Government was put together in the national interest, in order to guide the country through the dark valley of the pandemic. And this is Mr Varadkar’s version of responsible leadership in a time of crisis?

Not that the Taoiseach did anything to enhance his own reputation this week.

Ultimately, the confusion around new guidelines issued on Tuesday are his responsibility. 

For whatever reason — his persona, the string of controversies, rustiness, a deficit of confidence — he has not been able to convey the impression that he is in charge, that he is leading, that he knows what is required.

In the absence of strong leadership, the week was marked by a tendency to point fingers of blame at easy targets.

The video taken in the Berlin D2 venue last weekend was offensive to many. A man standing on a bar pouring shots into the mouths of a few punters was bound to spark anger. But was the response proportionate? 

A few people acting the clown over a short period of time hardly warranted elevating them and their ilk to the status of public enemies number one.

Then later in the week, we were told that new powers to assist gardaí to break up house parties would be introduced.

This was sold as a response to the rise in infections among a young cohort. Yet the reality is that the biggest element of the young cohort being infected is among the workforce in meat and other food-processing plants.

Tackling the real issue there  —the conditions in which these workers exist — would be too much trouble, so attention was diverted onto whether or not gardaí be granted these extra powers.

There is a sense of drift right now. The pandemic continues to wreak havoc. Those running the country do not inspire confidence that that they are providing solid leadership. The schools are about to reopen. Discerning between real danger and the prevalence of irrational fear is becoming more difficult. Those who lead, particularly Mr Martin and Mr Varadkar, would want to get a grip of things, and fast.