By Jimmy Rhatigan, Editor Kilkenny Observer
TALK about biting the hand that feeds you.
The Green Party may have noble aims as it bids to cotton wool Planet Earth but when it comes to chivalry members are cocooned in a dunces’ corner.
The boys and girls who are devoted to a green machine are also quite birdbrained, disrespectful and ruthless when it comes to their modus operandi for throwing a safety net to Mother Earth.
As we write, the clever or maybe not so clever money may be on The Greens to join the Right Wing Twins of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to form our new government.
Any cash splash could prove to be clever for punters whose hunches may be that it will shortly be green for go in Leinster House.
Any endgame may not turn out to be fruitful for Mr Eamon Ryan’s team as his, with respect Dirty Dozen could end up experiencing the hardship that Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin and their mates got in a movie called The Dirty Dozen.
The Ryan gang
Life certainly won’t be plain sailing for the Ryan gang.
But they will have themselves only to blame if they agree to play hopscotch in a minefield.
That the Greens have a ruthless streak there is no doubt.
For in the last General Election it was a hefty swing to the left that catapulted Green men and women to red hot Dáil seats.
Payback time to what some arrogant fat cat politicians like to call The Looney Left never came.
Instead the focus at this time is on the Ryan Team turning right after they got a lift from a left that begrudged any votes to Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
The Greens look set to throw their lot in with FF and FG, many of whose disciples would be more familiar with right wing tactics than to love thy neighbour.
We are well aware that politics is a dirty game. But we have a pertinent question.
Rival store
If a local shop gave your family credit in hard times would you turn around and spend your grocery budget in a rival store in improved times?
Our belief is that most of our people would do the honourable thing.
Reality for The Greens is that if a hard hit FG and FF had not got a thumping from Sinn Féin the lovers of recent years wouldn’t even cast a glance in the direction of Mr Ryan and his disciples.
That is something that The Greens will have to grapple with. The notion is that they may not again get the same second, third or fourth preferences that they got from the left, next time out.
The irony is that we have today got an inclination of where we will stand with a not so blessed trinity of FF, FG and Greens should their backsides end up in comfortable adjoining Kildare Street seats.
Climate rockets
Today, May 1, May Day saw the first climate rockets fired in the direction of our people.
The Greens in particular may be rubbing their hands with glee.
Many who voted them in, particularly left wingers who gave them what we might term after thought votes, will have certainly groaned a collective ‘ouch’, perhaps preceded by an expletive.
Carbon tax was upped by €6 to €26 per tonne of carbon dioxide in last year’s budget.
From today, the estimate is that an average gas bill in a family home jumps by €60.
A 40kg bag of coal takes an extra €2.80 from your pocket, a bale of briquettes costs a Euro more than before and when you fill your tank with 900-litres of home heating oil you will have to fork out an extra €65.
Our ruthless rulers may not have batted an eyelid as they lashed out at a time when hundreds of thousands of our people are unemployed as our nation is at war with a silent killer.
Financial bloodbath
If the caretaker government of Fine Gael is prepared to hammer us during a pandemic that has us in the grip of fear, we dread to think of any financial bloodbath that may be facing us down the line.
Should they sign up for power, The Greens would be very wise to leave an escape hatch ajar.
No use boys and girls, we would suggest, FF and FG are masters of foul play in any game of life.
Our guess is that the hatch would be a gateway to Hell.
Reaction from FF/FG would be to recruit someone, anyone and their mates to replace those they would probably refer to then as the other crowd.
For, that’s the way that FF and FG are built.
Now that they are holding hands the power of the political juggernaut is more dangerous than ever.
We applaud The Greens for championing climate protection.
But we remind that while forming a team of three may sometimes be a good idea, it is always vital to ensure that one doesn’t end up as the meat in any not so tasty sandwich.
