False hope – Cannon’s sewerage ammunition of choice

Politicians usually have skin thicker than that of a Rhinoceros.

They need it, what with all the mistakes they make and bullsh@t they come out with and lies they tell. You need to be shameless to brazen things out.

Most politicians are born with rather large necks; and then a thicker outer layer builds up over time. It makes them immune to criticism. Or at least it gives an air of being immune from criticism.

Many are thick . . . but politicians aren’t all thick skinned. And despite the veneer that suggests otherwise, most are incredibly insecure. They’ve got enormous egos but pierce them and you’ll expose a soft underbelly vulnerable to anything other than total praise and adoration.

Take Junior Minister Ciarán Cannon, for instance.

Maybe it’s the insecurity of the junior in his job title (he prefers Minister of State but we all know he is junior). Maybe not.

Whatever it is, Ciarán is a sensitive soul. He’s grand when he’s playing around with coding and computers. But any mention of things he and his Government aren’t good at – like delivering on promises – then up he jumps on his high horse and gets all defensive.

As you can imagine, given this Coalition’s record, Ciarán is up on that horse quite often. Defending the indefensible is becoming quite the pastime for Fine Gael and Labour.

The truer the criticism that is levelled the louder Ciarán protests. Poor creatúr. 

He was at it recently when it was pointed out that a Kinvara Sewerage Scheme hasn’t proceeded as expeditiously as promised. Oh contraire, sniffed the snotty-nosed Cannon. It’s on the way, he said, on Facebook. He even had a message from John Tierney, Managing Director of Irish Water to prove it. 

“Ciaran, Irish Water is actively engaged with Galway County Council on this scheme and would be hopeful it can proceed to tender in Q2 2014. Hopefully this clarifies the matter for you . . .”

It was apparently sent to Ciarán in February, 2014. The hopefulness in the text sounded familiar. So we checked. And we found a similar gem of a statement issued by Cannon, a year earlier, in February 2013. It was bursting with hope, too. It turned out to be false hope.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.