Viewpoint: Fine Gael as bully

I was out of the country for some of it, but I have been very dismayed by the whole Fine Gael performance in relation to the Household Charge, writes Brian Byrne.

Just to be up front about it, I don't have a particular issue with the Charge itself. Local domestic rates, which formerly and properly paid for our local authority services, were done away with by a Fianna Fail hungry to get into power, and they were prepared to do it at any cost. The cost in this case turned out to be an emasculation of our county councils, and our own individual funding of them. We citizens prior to then had an element of control over such services. After the Fianna Fail 'raid' they both had assumed the power and left us all out of the local loop.

But that was then, and this is now. We are, I believe, alone amongst the European countries which do not have a local tax to provide for our local services. It is truly time that we became grown up again, instead of the whining children which Fianna Fail spoiled us to be. However, the way that the current Government has gone about gathering this tax has been, at best consideration, stupid. At worst, even more stupid, because what they have done is unnecessary.

I opened this piece with Fine Gael. Because the FG part of the Coalition is clearly the one in the driving seat for this particular exercise. And, again to put my thoughts into a perspective, it is no secret that my family has been aligned to Fine Gael since the time my grandfather was a Cumann na nGaedheal councillor in Kildare. And those of you who know me long enough are aware that I did myself run as a FG candidiate in the local elections in the early 1970s. Just about unsuccessfully, and luckily as I have always since said.

So I say this with considerable sadness. Fine Gael are in danger of becoming perceived as fascist as were the 'Blueshirts' who were subsumed into the party in 1933. Not because they are actually fascist, but maybe because they have succumbed very quickly to the arrogance that comes with power. That could well make them a one-term party in government. Again.

I don't know Big Phil Hogan. Never met the man. For all I know, he could be a cuddly teddy bear in his 'ordinary' life. I do understand from those who are close to the powerbase of FG that he is the person largely responsible for the strategy by which Enda Kenny turned round his party when it was in the boondocks. And from those same sources I understand that he has a steel core that is razor sharp when dealing with his political enemies.

But the people of Ireland are not his enemies. Nor are they the enemies of Fine Gael. And the results of the last election would suggest that the vast majority of the people who have not registered yet for the Household Charge supported either FG or their Labour allies in the ousting of a government, the main party of which this week has finally been proved in the Mahon Report to have been corrupt to the core over many of its iterations.

As the major partner in this current Coalition, Fine Gael will take the brunt of the anger which has developed over the Charge. Their Labour companions are not taking limelight on the matter, apart from the Tanaiste saying the deadline for registration will not be changed. As you would expect him to say.

They deserve it. They have handled it so badly. Their environment minister seems quite amenable to being perceived as a bully-boy. His threats happily paraphrased by Fianna Fail as 'nowhere to hide, we will find you' against ordinary citizens are as thick as Big Phil's neck is said to be. His latest attempt to scare the bejasus out of those who haven't paid, that he has instructed local authorities to send teams to 'call to the doors' of households who haven't paid, is, bluntly, an abomination no less than a loan shark sending in the heavies to those behind in their payments.

Will those local authority 'teams' of 'enforcers' be wearing fedoras and black leather coats like the Gestapo did when checking out whether there were Jews in a household? I'm being over the top? No, it's the same attitude.

And so unnecessary. Big Phil and his FG/Labour cabinet decided that it would be up to the households to register for the charge. They relied heavily on the internet, to which maybe half the same households don't have access. They screwed up the information leaflet delivery. And they didn't even have the courtesy to send bills to people through the post, which still works for every house in the state. One excuse I heard was that they didn't have a data base from which to send bills.

Well, on one count, couldn't they have asked the Revenue to send them out? They have a data base on everyone in the State. Or An Post, which also has through its contract to collect TV licences? Or even the county councils, who have planning details of every property in their catchment? I mean, if the Councils don't have that information, how are they going to send Big Phil's enforcers out to knock on the doors of those who haven't paid?

Stupid, Enda. Stupid, Fine Gael. Stupid, Big Phil. I wouldn't be too worried about the gains that Fianna Fail might make over it. But there's a bunch of disparate parties and independents that I really wouldn't like to make the next election meal out of it, simply because you got arrogant more quickly than any of us expected. None of us like bullies, but now you're doing it and playing right into the hands of the ones you only recently threw out of the playground.

Stupid, and sad.