Our politicians so often just don’t get it.
Here we are, facing the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation, where hard-working people are struggling to put food on the table - literally.
Many can't afford to heat their homes, put petrol in the car, and some are working two jobs in order to keep their heads above water.
Their income used to meet their needs, but now there's little or nothing left over.
Leo Varadkar's most famous phrase was that he represents the "people who get up early in the morning."
It was a nice way of saying his party is for the middle-class or the aspiring middle class - those who work hard to bring an income, and want to better themselves. (Not those on benefits.)
Yet as he prepares to take over as Taoiseach again in a few weeks, the Government continues to hammer workers over the head with lofty politics that does little for the ordinary family.
It could be argued that the worst off is the middle income earner, who gets no social supports and has a family to raise.
The person who thought they did everything right - went to college, got a job, worked hard, now can't afford to rent or buy a home.
It's all very well that Ireland takes its place on the world stage - we’re still on the UN Security Council you know - but what people really want is politics that puts money back in our pockets.
The famous Big Mac index used to be a fair barometer of affordability across different nations. I reckon - here in Ireland - a better one might be the cost of a pint.
Let's call it the Heineken index - and we're top of the charts. In the interests of research, this columnist braved tourist trap Temple Bar this week - where a pint of Heino was €8.90 in a packed Oliver St John Gogarty’s pub.
At the bar, I met a stunned-looking couple from Brno, the Czech Republic’s second largest city.
They own a club there with four bars and said a round of 10 pints there is €25. In Gogarty's he wouldn’t get three for that.
The Budget Traveller’s Europe beer index further reveals that a pint costs an average of €5.90 in France, €5 in Switzerland, €3.50 in England, €3 in Greece, €2,50 in Germany and just 60c in Ukraine.
So, while we're getting rinsed at every turn, yet the Government still pays little more than lip service to the struggles the majority of the nation are facing.
Take this week, for example, the big political set piece of the week - the visit of the EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen, to Dublin and Leinster House.
It was a historic day and Ms Von der Leyen is a great lady by all accounts. She did quote The Saw Doctors - those great Galwegian philosophers - after all.
The halls of Leinster House were packed - security, entrances and exits were closed off and the main Chamber itself was rammed to the rafters for her keynote address.
Unsurprising, for a box office political visit. Yet when it comes down to the big issues of domestic politics, the grit that makes a real difference to people's lives - no such show.
For something as vital as housing, the chamber is empty.
On Thursday morning, just four hours before the EU President took to the podium, that very same room had the Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien present himself for questioning for an hour and a half. Here was a chance to hold the man who has all the power in this crisis department to account, and, looking back at a recording of this Dáil session, there were never more than half a dozen people in the Chamber.
It's a sad indictment on the 159 elected TDs who are representatives of the people. They can show up for Ursula, but they can't show up for the biggest issue affecting most of the people they serve.
Greta strikes back
Whatever happened to the wunderkind Greta Thunberg? She was everywhere for a while. She was so part of the PC world - pre-Covid - it’s easy to forget she was the most famous kid on the planet, reminding us that we had bloody well mind it, or there'd be none at all for her generation to mind. Maybe her alarmist style fell out of fashion: One of her most famous speeches, to the World Economic Forum in Davos, went: "I want you to panic. I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day."
Lauded, but not universally liked, her sanctimony led to her being dubbed: "the Swedish school truant" for her school strike for climate.
Anyway, the child activist grew up - and is an adult now, turning 20 in January. But before that, our politicians in Leinster House can get familiar with her protesting prose just in time for Christmas. All of our TDs and Senators are getting a free copy of her book as a present from Friends of the Earth. There’s a charity book share cupboard in the Dáil canteen. I’m putting my money on the shelves sagging with copies of The Climate Book come mid-January.
Cribgate, the Second Coming
Fair play to Patrick O’Donovan.
The crafty junior minister from the shticks of county Limerick knocked a month out of what has become known as Cribgate.
The Minister with special responsibility for the OPW was apparently so moved by the prospect of missing out on having a donkey, sheep and goat as part of Dublin’s traditional - and most famous - live crib outside the Mansion House, that he had to use his ministerial muscle to save the day.
His campaign had the effect of undermining the Green Lord Mayor Caroline Conroy. The Mayor had announced she would have no live animals in the Mayoral crib this year on animal welfare grounds.
The traditional scene had been running in conjunction with the Irish Farmers Association for 27 years But despite a backlash, the Mayor said this year it was time for "something different."
Wily, smiley O'Donovan is now the farmer’s best friend after riding in on his little donkey to bring us a rival ‘live’ crib to St Stephen’s Green, with the help - and publicity - of the IFA. It will be competing with the Lord Mayor’s inanimate offering just around the corner outside the Mansion House in a sort of crib deathmatch. Let the games begin.
Quote of the Week
“Whenever the European Union sits down with our British friends, we will do so with an honest heart and an open mind.” EU Commission President reveals she’s a Saw Doctors fan as she quotes their anthem To Win Just Once.
