O Brolchain is going full-time, but will Green Party Òtake the gritÓ for crisis?

Things are moving on for new Green Party Senator Niall O Brolchain – following his recent election in that voting pact between FF and The Greens, O Brolchain is to set up a full-time office in Galway City in a bid to win a Dail seat in Galway West.

Now, as I said before, winning a seat will be a tall order. O Brolchain was among those tipped for the Dail in the 2007 General Election in Galway West and he got over 3,000 first preferences. But he failed to be elected and then suffered an extraordinary reverse in the 2009 Local Elections when he failed to hold on to his Galway City Council seat.

In the Locals, where the Green Party suffered a wipeout nationally, O Brolchain was not spared – at 750 first preferences he had only half a quota and, when he lost the City Council seat, it looked like his political career might be at an end. However, he got his break before Christmas when he won that Senate by-election and at the weekend confirmed that he is opening a full-time office in Galway, with two staff.

His full-time commitment to politics and now opening an office in Galway is an indicator of his intention to battle hard in seeking a Dail seat in five-seater Galway West. He has a tough battle ahead of him.Meanwhile, it’s hardly surprising that Green Minister John Gormley seemed to have a short fuse and not too much of a sense of humour in the past week when it was suggested to that someone might call him – ‘the Minister for Snow.’

Minister Gormley will be aware that there is some historical precedent in this country for the junior partner in government ‘carrying the can’ when it comes to major weather events, and the competence with which they are handled – even if the Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was on holidays!

After all, though the main roads were being gritted; ‘salt’ was in short supply, or running out; people had begun to ask where was Transport Minister Noel Dempsey; whole areas were impassable, buses in Dublin were not running – as Minister Gormley found himself standing up-front for a government which was being severely questioned on the adequacy of response.

Meanwhile, in the background, there were taunts that Gormley had been suckered into taking the thankless job of Weather Crisis Co-ordinator, while the senior partners in FF were prepared to leave the limelight to him.

Gormley made clear on Saturday that he was prepared to defend the handling of the crisis and that the government could not be expected to deal with every secondary road and estate ...... but, when you’re dealing with a once-in-fifty-years weather event, someone will eventually ‘carry the can.’

We have to turn to Garret FitzGerald, the then Taoiseach in 1982, for memories of the weather crisis of January 1982, which did major and lasting damage to the reputation of then Tanaiste, Michael O’Leary TD, the Labour Party Leader and Minister for Industry and Energy. Really, it was the cause of some of the most lasting damage to the O’Leary reputation. It was one of the episodes which most pursued him through the rest of his political career – though no Government could have been expected to have had snowploughs on-hand for the once-in-forty-years snowdrifts.

Taoiseach FitzGerald was out of the country on holidays in Tenerife and Tanaiste Michael O’Leary was in charge when there was a major snowfall in early January, 1982.

Garret FitzGerald in his book ‘All In A Life.’ says: “In early January 1982 Joan and I took a brief break in the Canary Islands which came to a sudden end when, on the evening of Friday, January 8, I heard from home that a heavy snowfall was bringing the country to a standstill. Next morning I rang Michael O’Leary at home. He confirmed that the situation was critical; nothing was moving. I suggested that he establish an Emergency Committee to co-ordinate measures to meet the crisis; meanwhile I would try to get home as quickly as possible.

For more, read page 12 of this week's Connacht Tribune.