Roisin Shortall walks tall

It’s a day on from the bombshell resignation of Roisin Shortall from government.  I was shocked by the move but to be fair, knowing Roisin as I do, She is an honourable woman. What you see with her is what you get. She has always been someone of values who believes in principle. today I was reminded of how over 10 years ago as Education spokesperson she raised the teachers dispute despite it being very unpopular.  About 20 years ago she was one of a number of Labour TD’s to resign the whip in protest at the Cahill Plan for Aer Lingus.

 The debacle will stand out for the remainder of the time that this government is in power as a watermark. But it shouldn’t. The loss of Willie Penrose shouldn’t have happened either.  When Willie resigned it was put to Labour that a local decision cannot be made as the wider interest demanded a strategic organisation of the defence forces.  So Mullingar lost its barracks while Athlone retained its military presence.  Here we have the direct opposite, local decisions are now being made when it suits Fine Gael. Strategic organisational decisions to plan the delivery of a service can now be made based on local criteria. The logic for the decision that led to Willie Penrose’s resignation is now binned.  If anyone should reflect on the last 24 hours and ask what if, it’s Willie.

So let’s park the personality issue because I have no insight into how relations work within a department and instead let’s look at the policy and in particular the criteria around the decision.   If you look at the list of primary care centres Ballymote in South Sligo is 25km from the Ballaghderreen centre that was added by Dr Reilly. Balbriggan also added by Dr Reilly is 14 km from Laytown which in turn is 11 km from the Drogheda primary care centres.  Minister Reilly points to population in the case of Swords demanding a primary care centre so let’s grant him that. Nearly 50,000 do have health need.  So are there 50,000 people living in both North Roscommon and South Sligo to justify each getting a primary care centre? Do these bordering areas have such high levels of deprivation? Or is there a big enough population between Drogheda, Laytown and Balbriggan to justify 3 of the 35 centres to be built nationally? 4 if you add Swords a motorway junction or 2 south of Balbriggan?

A lot of Labour voters and members have contacted me in the last 24 hours to make it clear that they resent the behaviour of Minister Reilly towards Roisin Shortall. That makes this matter different to the resignation of the whip of other Labour TD’s.  This will have implications for day to day government into the future and make framing a budget harder.  I’m not saying there won’t be a budget, the reality is that there will be as the need to drag the country out of the FF & green slump is all consuming and essential.

However it will make all the work like the children’s referendum, the public service, local government  re-organisation which is upcoming fast, all harder. This was needless.     

For the time that's in it

Rare to see a minister get a good reception on TV but that is exactly what happened last Monday night on RTE’s “Frontline” Roisin Shortall was setting out her views on how to tackle binge drinking. Roisin is the minister responsible for the drugs strategy and she is seeking to reduce our addiction to alcohol consumption. She has a hard job however she set out in a positive way exactly the extent of the problem our society ignores. Absenteeism on Fridays or Mondays due to late night drinking is part of the €1.5B bill attributed to absenteeism in the workplace. It’s not too long ago since a local supermarket in Wexford gave a free case of beer when you bought one case.

Casual violence and vandalism adds to the damage. A few years ago a local garda told me that he was looking forward to his retirement as he’d spent enough Saturday nights in the company of enough of Wexford’s drunken youths to last him a lifetime. Alcohol contributes significantly to our levels of mental health. We’ve always tolerated the problem however it now seems that enough is enough and Rosin is looking at the volume of alcohol that is purchased here. Add to that the % alcohol content of alcopops and continental lagers, significantly stronger than the usual pint of plain. As a generation we’re storing up a problem of diabetes for the future. The health needs of the generation damaged by the over consumption of alcopos will have to be met somehow. Minister Shortall committed to ring fencing revenue raised for dealing with addiction. If a fraction of what she proposes comes through, it’ll be a good dasy work.

Lets deal with the potential downside. Cross border traffic for alcohol tends to be slightly older people who are not targeted by the alcopops manufacturers. There is little in the difference in price between many spirits here available on offer and the price across the border. Would you be bothered going to the north if the bargains aren’t there anymore? That’s not to say that some people will not go for variety and novelty. However the reality is that like the smoking ban which the north copied, any move that works on reducing alcohol consumption will in time make its way into law elsewhere. If a reduction of consumption in cheap youth orientated alcohols is Shorthall’s vision then I hope she succeeds and she deserves the support of all.