THE AUTUMN SCHEDULE

THE AUTUMN SCHEDULE Ireland is heading in to Autumn, or as RTE would have it “The Autumn Schedule”. It promises to be a season of plenty for the “haves”, the privileged and the few, and a season of most protracted misery for the homeless and the “have nots”. But Ireland is an unusual society and the “haves” are not always whom you might expect them to be. In few other countries in the Western world do the stars of radio and television work and operate in quite such splendour. The RTE Guide tells us that the station’s highest paid son is now entering his tenth season introducing the Late Show. Most critics will tell you that that particular production should have been moth-balled on Gay’s retirement. Nevertheless, Ryan is there Friday after Friday producing what can most kindly be described as very average fare “for everyone in the audience”. If you should miss Ryan on a Friday night, you can still catch him on the radio every morning of the week. My principal objection to all of this is not that it is dull and repetitive (which it is), but that Ryan is being paid half a million euros a year by RTE for this charade at a time when the streets of Dublin are lined with the poor, the destitute and the homeless. Of course, Ryan isn’t especially or particularly to blame, he is merely cashing in on a system which has led to the phrase “it is harder to get out of RTE than in to RTE” being coined. Ryan is by no means the only person at RTE who is being grossly overpaid, not so much in terms of the work they actually do, but in terms of the fate and suffering experienced by others in Ireland and in Irish society. I like Miriam. It would be very hard not to like her. She is personable, kind, avoids undue aggression and has defied the passage of the years in the most remarkable fashion.  I am not sure that she always asks “the hard questions” as the RTE personal publicity states, but she is a very consummate professional. Nevertheless, if you were poor, impoverished and in the street, you might find the size of her pay packet a little hard to stomach. Her co-presenter David looks very well too in a natty navy suit and tie. David knows a lot of History too, although I doubt if he will ever truly rock the political spectrum to its foundations by confronting a politician. Joe has become the “Conscience of the Nation”. Where once people went to confession, they now call and talk to Joe; but Joe is a remarkably well paid Confessor. It would be amiss of me not to mention my old favourite Bishop Hyundai Dobson. In that respect I am still waiting to hear a satisfactory explanation from RTE as to why the good Bishop was paid twice as much as Sharon for reading the News, or indeed why either of them was paid quite so much money in the first place. In fairness though all that I have said about RTE could be said to the power of ten about the denizens of Leinster House our National Parliament. I am not overly fond of quoting Oliver Cromwell but, as regards the performance of our present Government and Parliament, Cromwell’s words to the Rump Parliament seem just about appropriate “You have sat here too long for whatever good that you have done, for God’s sake go!”. The purpose of Government and Parliament is not to distribute largesse and self-perpetuate. The current incumbents at Leinster House have proven beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt that they are not fit for purpose. Their performance in relation to “cervical cancer” and “abortion” will go down as among the blackest in Irish History.  Despairing efforts by Leo and Michael to cobble together another Confidence and Supply arrangement merely reflect the fact that both men have good reason to fear the verdict of the electorate. But a national budget is the most important business of Parliament in a functioning democracy; it is simply unacceptable that two parties who do not see eye to eye on so many issues should cobble over their differences merely to avoid an election. Budgets produced by Confidence and Supply arrangements are in all likelihood unconstitutional. In practical terms, they are devoid of motivation, inspiration and spirit. As a result, they do absolutely nothing to help the poor, the marginalized and the downtrodden whom I previously mentioned. On the other hand, such budgets allow poverty and social discontent to flourish to the benefit of the terrorists and terrorist organisations who are so busily and successfully subverting Irish society. In the middle of these difficulties, the Autumn schedule will bring a farce or pantomime of the most ridiculous and enormous proportions, known as the Presidential election. The incumbent Michael D would not raise a finger or utter a syllable to help or save the unborn. He bears an especially heavy responsibility because as the Guardian of the Constitution he had the duty and the obligation not to allow the referendum proceed, by refusing to sign the Referendum Bill, on account of the innumerable and obvious breaches of the Constitution and the Law which accompanied the passage of the Bill through the National Parliament. There is something singularly repulsive about seeing Michael D nominating himself and presenting his candidature again in such circumstances. But at a time of national poverty, homelessness and distress, the sight of a number of very wealthy “Dragons” lining up to feed, drink and guzzle at the trough is arguably perhaps even more repulsive. It is a joyous fact of life that autumn leads on to winter and that Christmas, the Feast of the birth of Christ, the new-born infant King will soon be upon us. It is also a very sad fact that for a great many people and families in Ireland there will again be no room at the Inn this year!   

Maurice James, Barrister at Law