Increasingly in Ireland we are governed by the politics of spin. Willie O Dea spoke about Armageddon when he criticised the axing of the Shannon- Heathrow route by Aer Lingus.Similarly other FF TDs and councillors in the Mid West rushed to the media to lambast the decision. Noel Dempsey Minister for Communications is confident that no FF TDs will break ranks in the Dail and vote against the Government on the issue. The Government refuses to call an EGM of Aer Lingus shareholders. If this is Armagheddon Willie O'Dea and other FF TDs have no option but to vote against the Government. Of course this will not happen. At local level FF TDs are against the decision. In the Dail they vote for it. They are pretending to do something about the Aer Lingus decision. They are not serious.
Now apparently John Gormley of the Green Party and Minister for the Environment is opposed to incineration. Yet he is a member of a government that has incineration as a fundamental plank in its environmental policy. He is learning quickly from his FF colleagues. Mr Gormley admitted that changes he proposed could make incinerators less financially attractive for developers. However, he said the existing policy gave undue incentive to for these facilities to be used.
He knows quite well that he has little prospect of derailing the governments incineration policy. The FF and PD Ministers support it. He will be outvoted at Cabinet level. He is engaged in the politics of spin. He is pretending to do something about incineration.
