Politicians should learn that it's good to talk

It's a sad day for Irish politics when a posting on a social networking site brings about the resignation of a senior Minister. But it appears this is just the latest example of the complete breakdown in communications in Leinster House, not only a breakdown in communications between the two coalition partners, but within the parties themselves. Yet it appears that's exactly what happened when Senator Dan Boyle used Twitter last week to make clear his feelings about the Willie O'Dea saga and the fact that he did not support the vote of confidence in him that his Dáil colleagues had taken just hour before. They say 24 hours is a long time in politics and that was never clearer than last week when on Thursday Willie O'Dea was forced to resign his post as Minister for Defence just a day after his colleagues in Fianna Fáil and the Green Party supported a vote of confidence in him. A lot happened in those 24 hours, firstly Dan Boyle tweeting his feelings on the issue, making it clear that he was not supportive of his leader or Dáil colleagues in supporting O'Dea. With the release of the tapes by the Limerick Leader in the 'brothel-gate' saga O'Dea's fate was sealed as the Greens finally held a parliamentary meeting to discuss the issue. However, the issue here is not about what Mr O'Dea said or did two years ago or in more recent times, that is for another day. The issue is the complete breakdown in communication that is evident among our public representatives, something that is not solely confined to the Green Party, although they have taken more hits than others in recent weeks. George Lee's resignation from the Dáil and the Fine Gael party left the political establishment, and the nation, reeling from shock just two weeks ago. Lee claimed he had been cold shouldered by the party and was not allowed to contribute to the party's economic policies, while the party claimed he had been given ample opportunity to contribute but had failed to do so. But from the very beginning it was clear there was a lack of communication between George Lee and the Fine Gael party. Just after he first announced his intention to seek the party's nomination in Dublin South it emerged that he had not had discussions with party leader Enda Kenny before the announcement. His exit from politics followed a similar trend when many senior members of the Fine Gael party heard the news from reporters seeking a comment. Then followed the resignation of Senator Deirdre de Burca, who gave up her seat in the Seanad and her place in the parliamentary party, while remaining a member of the Green Party. De Burca said the Green Party had lost its way and party leader John Gormley and her Cabinet colleagues were more interested in holding onto their seats than standing up to Fianna Fáil and implementing Green policy. Perhaps this was evident on Wednesday evening when the Greens in the Dáil supported the confidence vote in Willie O'Dea, something John Gormley admitted afterwards was sprung on them in the Dáil chamber before they had the opportunity to discuss the issue among themselves. The country is experiencing the worst recession in its history, with jobs being shed, homes being repossessed and people living on the bread line. People are waiting for answers. Yet, how can we expect the Government, or any of our politicians, to articulate to us how exactly they plan to get us out of this mess when they can't even seem to communicate with people they meet on a regular basis and with whom they are supposedly working with to turn the country around. For Tweet's sake, it's time our politicians stopped relying on the media and social networking sites to communicate with each other and engaged in some good-old fashioned conversation in a bid to implement some plans to get us out of this crisis.