Morning Ireland

by Cathal Mac Coille

Paul Gogarty’s answer to my first question on Thursday's programme was one of the first indications that the political crisis at Leinster House was going nuclear.

Asked how unhappy he was after the Taoiseach’s late-night attempt to appoint new Cabinet ministers, he told us that, on a scale of one to ten, he was at ten.

Now, eight or nine would have been no surprise, but ten made Paul's message unmistakably clear: Brian Cowen had gone too far and the Greens would demand a retreat. After a day of chaos, compounded by the damage done to the Taoiseach’s authority by his own behaviour, we still don’t know how far-reaching the fall-out will be.

The depths of discord between the coalition parties was even more obvious when Rachael spoke to Government chief whip John Curran and Green TD Trevor Sargent on today’s programme. Neither made any effort to conceal the coolness between parties which, as I write, say they intend to run the country for another seven weeks. If they can.

The angry words and farcical scenes of this Government’s last days are in marked contrast with the optimism that marked the First Dáil's first session, on this day 92 years ago. The hopeful mood of 21 January 1919 was expressed by a sentence from the Democratic Programme, approved by the Dáil on that historic day.

“We declare that we desire our country to be ruled in accordance with the principles of Liberty, Equality, and Justice for all, which alone can secure permanence of Government in the willing adhesion of the people.”

That aspiration seemed so relevant to our current crisis that I quoted it in full at the end of today’s programme. You can read the Democratic Programme, and the rest of the first Dáil’s proceedings at its founding session in  Dublin’s Mansion House, at www.oireachtas.ie