Power that has lasted too long

Fianna Fáil can hardly have been left reeling with its showing in the Irish Times/MRBI poll released. But nonetheless, there must have been some disappointment at the fact that the party"s rating has plummeted to 22 per cent - below that of not just Fine Gael, but Labour as well.It doesn"t take a genius to work out which party is going to take the most flak on the doorsteps as canvassing for the upcoming local elections gets underway...and the party is likely to be facing humiliation in constituency after constituency once the count results start coming in. That feeling will be familiar to the party: it did, after all, lose over 80 seats nationwide in the 2002 local elections.The present government still has over three years to run - if it lasts that long; but on current indications, it is difficult to see Brian Cowen still as Taoiseach right up to the summer of 2012. If there were a national election today, it"s likely the party would be decimated, and as the news on the economy continues to disimprove, things aren"t likely to look any rosier for the party any time soon.It does have to be admitted that this government is grappling with an unprecedented crisis, and that so much of what is happening is beyond the control of this tiny nation. But there is a sense that the government is floundering: unsure what to do, unsure how to handle what"s flying at it; lost as each day brings even more mind-boggling revelations, such as last week"s incredible news of the Irish Life and Permanent"s decision to 'bed and breakfast' billions with Anglo Irish Bank just before the Anglo Irish Bank"s annual report was due out.One cannot help feeling that the government is suffering, somewhat, from a lack of experience: ironic in a party that has, for so long been in power. Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach for so long; Charlie McCreevy was Minister for Finance for so long - and all this was through the good times.Brian Cowen was Minister for Finance for three years, but it was three years when the Irish economy was still flying. Ahern and McCreevy were both men with a financial background; Cowen"s and Lenihan"s background is in law. And it appears that both are in shock by what"s hit them.The problem is, having had one party so long at the helm, what other political party has experience either?It"s not so much a problem here of absolute power corrupting, as the fact that absolute power means no-one else has had a chance to learn how to do things. Before this crisis struck, we were becoming faced with the prospect of ending up with Fianna Fáil in power forever, purely because we couldn"t imagine anyone else doing the job. There are politicians in Dáil Éireann of huge capacity with years of experience - such as Westmeath"s own Willie Penrose - but there are fewer and fewer non Fianna Fáil politicians out there with any experience at ministerial level. By continuing to vote in the same party to power, we colluded in reducing our own choices.It"s likely now, however, that next time out, Fine Gael and Labour will be in power.It"s not necessarily the case that they could handle the current crisis any better than Fianna Fáil is doing, but at least it will 'upskill' politicians who have at this stage experience of everything bar power; who know how to be an effective opposition, but who have never had to be an effective government.And it"s only after that that the playing field will have been truly levelled again, and that we"ll be able to go into the polling booths and make real choices.