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The Late Late Debate and public sentiment
Read more about: Corruption, Fianna Fail, Irish Politics, Tribunals
According to many pundits and politicos, the panel debate held on The Late Late Show just before the last general election marked a turn in public opinion back towards Bertie Ahern and Fianna Fáil - carrying them to victory in May’s poll.
If this theory can be taken as fact and the logic of it carried forward to the latest edition of the show then Bertie Ahern is in serious trouble.
In light of the recent Tribunal revelations and the more recent comments by John Gormley and Mary Harney, The Late Late Show decided to bring back its infamous panel from May 2007 - consisting of Eoghan Harris, John Waters and Eamon Dunphy - to see if attitudes or opinions had changed.
The three seemed to cover the spectrum of opinion quite well in this instance - Dunphy; extremely cynical and suspicious, Waters; the considered neutral aware of the political realities, Harris; loyal and unwavering supporter on all points.
In other words, the opinion of the three men had not changed one iota - what had changed was the audience reaction.
When asked, Dunphy delivered an extremely aggressive and equally passionate assessment of the situation, saying that while he had no opinion to give on the corruption or otherwise of Ahern he believed the questions of perjury and tax evasion were very serious indeed.
When he finished his assault, the audience instantly clapped, cheered and hollered in support.
Harris had his own moments of passionate opinionating, as he did last time, saying there were questions remaining but Ahern should be allowed to answer them. However when he was done, there was not any sign of support to be heard from those in the studio.
In the end it became a robust debate between Harris and Dunphy, which Waters finding difficulty getting a word in edgeways - a shame because what he did say was an interesting break from the ‘he says, she says’ debate.
When Harris attempted to give potential explanations for some of the anomalies yet to be address by Ahern, Dunphy wryly laughed and the audience joined him. When Dunphy got another chance to make a point, the audience cheered him on once again - it was almost as if the audience consisted purely of his loyal friends and stooges.
Whoever they were, there was little doubt that their collective minds were made up on the matter, and as such Dunphy was no longer arguing at them, he was arguing for them. It was a stark change from what happened in May and it was clear that Harris was often perturbed by their reaction at times.
The mood of the debate could perhaps best be summed up by the delivery of, and reaction to, an undoubtedly pre-prepared but no less cutting line from Dunphy aimed at Harris.
To paraphrase, he said to Harris at one point that “the only difference between you and me is that you’re a senator and I have to work.”
Dunphy was at his argumentative best, Harris was left undermined and the audience lapped it up.
Ah, I’m almost sorry I went to the pub and missed it. There’s no doubt public opinion has changed, but they’d still vote for the cunt in the morning for fear of repossession of the house, the two cars, the wide-screen HD ready TV, and the 7 hours stuck in traffic each day to make it all work.
The idea that the public are bored with the Tribunal is FF spin.
People are up in arms.
The support shown to Dunphy is evidence of the huge anger out there. People do care. People want accountability.
So goes the late late show so goes the nation. I think that after so many disappointments that I have to reserve judegment. There are too many people that dont hold FF accounutable for any of the country’s problems and continue to vote for them. There should be a RedC poll this weekend? That might give a sense of how the carruth evidence is playing out better than the late late.
The evidence for public apathy to the tribunals is waning. There are many who might not be sure one way of the other but are no doubt discomforted by the money being talked about. I am unsure how much weight we really should give the debate before the election and we should be as sceptical now - but it does seem to be another straw in the wind.
Headlines which suggest we are inquiring into almost a million euro (€886,830) do nothing only support that public disquiet.
The problem for all concerned is that the tribunal is not designed to hold people accountable - it keeps uncomfortable stories out of the courts and takes the sting out of them through delay, that has backfired a bit by now.
I don’t subscribe to the notion that the debate turned the election but what I find critical in this instance is that the audience weren’t convinced of anything - they had already made their mind up and Dunphy just spoke it.
At the very least the reaction belies the myth of public apathy - unless the audience was somehow packed with the only people left in Ireland who give a damn.
There were a few texts coming in saying “I wish they’d leave Bertie alone” and the like, but when Harris made the argument himself no-one there backed him up.
I suppose it’s also worth nothing that Harris had by far the most time to talk and shouted down others on a regular basis - yet he still failed to make a valid argument or one that was respected by the audience. The fact that Kenny kept asking him questions, rather than anyone else, highlighted the fact that he was the one needing to convince viewers, not Dunphy or Waters
“The problem for all concerned is that the tribunal is not designed to hold people accountable - it keeps uncomfortable stories out of the courts and takes the sting out of them through delay”
Exactly. Public apathy to tribunals probably can be sourced to that very fact rather than its content per se. Tribunals are part of a system of window-dressing that has the appearance of justice but no trace of punishment.
‘So goes the Late Late Show, so goes the nation’ What a depressing thought…
I thought this debate was much more a debate than the last one…