New Government must prove credentials on bailout

Whilst it was clear that the people of Ireland wanted a new broom in government, after the catastrophic failures of governance which characterised the last decade of public life, it is now similarly clear that the new administration has yet to prove its credentials as a new force. There's little talk now from the government of renegotiations of bailouts, or of some form of burden sharing if not burning of bond holders. The pre-election rhetoric of Eamon Gilmore - "It's Frankfurt's way or Labour's way" - has turned into what appears to be a more docile acceptance of ECB and IMF control. There's now talk of the need for a second bailout in media circles - and that has obviously permeated from the political world as the new government softens up the electorate for a u-turn on its pre-election indications. Ireland faces an uphill struggle to renegotiate the terms of last November's €85bn bailout. Irish banks are being propped up with €70bn of short-term European Central Bank support after being frozen out of wholesale money markets in the wake of the country's economic crash. The ECB is preparing a new 'medium-term liquidity facility' designed to tide the Irish banks over and it may require the Irish government to instigate another bank guarantee as a quid pro quo. There is still huge uncertainty over how much extra cash Irish banks may need. And isn't it incredible that almost two years since the bank crisis first exploded we are waiting with bated breath for the results of stress tests on the banks. Whatever about the lack of regulation and monitoring that occurred before the collapse of the Celtic Tiger, it beggars belief that we are still unclear about the extent of the black hole in the banks. What was happening over the last two years that the various regulators and political masters were unable to get to the bottom of the banking crisis? The next few weeks may prove crucial to both the credibility of the new Government and the future of the country. The Government may yet prove to be clever and skilful negotiators who can find methods to reduce the burden of the bailout. But if they fail to live up to the heady promises of the pre-election period, they will find an angry electorate whose wrath will know no bounds. It is, of course, fair to say the new Government has, already, displayed indications of change. The announcement of a new forum on school patronage signals a welcome opening up of primary school education in Ireland, for example. But the old style of delaying, prevarication seems to be still present too. Speaking in the Dáil last week, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the drawing up of a bill to do away with the Seanad was not as simple as it sounds, and said he has asked his department to start work on it immediately. Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin made the obvious point that Fine Gael were the ones who had made it sound simple to abolish the Seanad. The current Seanad campaign has shown up the utter folly of the institution and the lack of democracy in its composition. There is no public appetite for it - the prospects of it being reformed are minimal - it's time to axe what has been a gradually decaying symbol of a rotten political system. Fine Gael must live up to that promise.