There’s an elephant in the room that no-one in government wants to acknowledge and it could cost us a hefty €20billion

THE new government is a fait accompli. The big two, propped up by self-interested Independents, led by a convicted criminal (Michael Lowry), will rule the roost for the next five years.

Whoop-de-doo. About as thrilling as finding your toilet drain backed up with months worth of used bog roll.

And not a plumber to be had.

Expect the micro issues affecting the people of Tipperary, Galway, Longford—Westmeath and Sligo–Leitrim to dominate the national agenda.

Potholes, ring roads, gutters and cows are among the Regional Independent Group’s chief concerns.

All politics is local, right? The stuff glorified county councillors revel in.

National legislators? Well, that remains to be seen.

We’ll see how much they add to the debate when the real issues affecting the country take centre stage.

Will they retreat to the sides and sit on their hands when the difficult decisions have to be made?

Odds-on. Which would be scandalous given the plethora of really serious things on the government’s plate as it takes the reins of power.

The biggest single issue facing them ISN’T the delivery of stuff to local fiefdoms. That’s BOTTOM of the list of priorities. Or it should be.

You would have thought building houses and other vital public infrastructure would be priority number one.

It’s important, really important, but it isn’t the chief concern.

ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Climate change is. The elephant in the room that no one in this new government seems to want to acknowledge.

More than 80 per cent of voters — across all of Ireland’s constituencies — said climate change was their biggest concern. And what did they do? They TURFED OUT en masse the only party serious about tackling it — the Greens.

What are we? Thick? Or just self-obsessed and selfish.

Out of 12 TDs, the Greens have returned with just one — to the delight of many, including Ryanair chief, Michael O’Leary, who urged people to “weed” them out before the election.

His motives for doing so were transactional. The passenger cap at Dublin Airport was hurting his business. And the minister with the power to lift the cap was the Greens’ Eamon Ryan. He’s got his wish.

So have Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. Both parties were happy to pour the blame for the climate emergency measures of the last government into the lap of the Greens.

Machiavellian alright. You got rid of the Greens, but the legally-binding commitments to reduce carbon emissions in half by 2030 REMAIN.

FINE RISK

Much as you’d like to, you simply cannot ignore them. If you do, it will cost us a minimum €8BILLION in fines (just over half of what Apple put in our bank account last year in back taxes).

The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council — the lads who provide economic forecasts to the government — have just upped that figure to a possible €20BILLION.

All of which means this new hodge-podge government of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Independents will have to implement many unpalatable measures to cut our emissions if we’re to avoid paying huge penalties by 2030.

They’d a hard time adhering to climate targets when the Greens were in their ear for the last five years. That’s because, despite all the virtue signalling from the two big parties about climate and our commitments to reducing emissions, neither FF nor FG saw it as a truly pressing concern.

EMISSIONS ISSUE

Now they’re faced with the prospect of being stung to the tune of €20billion if they doesn’t meet carbon emission targets by 2030.

But, with no one in government to prick their conscience, don’t expect them to be serious about it. It’s not in their DNA.

Before the election, many (middle-aged) folk I talked to were suddenly vehemently “anti-Green”. They took the view that the rises in the cost of living were the fault of the sandal wearers. They poured scorn on the Greens’ initiatives in public transport, in cycling and in wind energy.

They were determined to teach the tree huggers a lesson. And they did. They removed them from the equation.

The act of de-greening the government will prove, in time, to be the greatest deed of self-sabotage committed.

OPPOSITE OF WHAT’S NEEDED

What’s been served up as a replacement is the opposite of what’s needed. None of the new government’s three blocks has the will to do what’s needed.

The climate problem, rather than being at the top of the agenda as it should be, will be shunted to the back behind other enormous challenges like housing and infrastructure.

I hope I’m proven wrong and the new government gets serious about the climate challenges we face.

The thought of paying all that money in penalties is surely incentive enough for them to get off their arses and act?

It’s in our national interest to NOT have to pay an arm and a leg, no?

I fear the new government will stick its head in the sand. Will taoiseach Micheal Martin do the right thing by his country?

Climate will be his biggest test — how he performs will define his legacy.

LACK OF TRACKS AT FAULT

IF you use the train in the capital, you’ll have been pulling your hair out over the last couple of months.

Reliability and punctuality on DART and commuter services has plummeted. And it’s all down to infrastructure which hasn’t been upgraded much in 40 or 50 years.

Regular signalling issues mean delayed and cancelled trains. The lack of extra tracks – the Victorians built the network in the 1840s – means trains get stuck in traffic.

Successive governments are to blame.

There are grand plans ­– of course there are – to transform the network. But despite some of them being APPROVED for building months ago, there still hasn’t been a shovel put in the ground.

That is lamentable, but alas, that is Ireland. It’s how we roll, slowly.

Irish Rail has built a new National Train Control Centre in Heuston, Dublin, at a cost of €188million. It’s largely completed, but won’t open until August 2025 at the earliest. Go figure.

It promises to bring the control and signalling of the country’s entire rail network under one roof, which experts argue will help reduce delays when signalling issues happen.

The new centre is great, of course. But it WON’T iron out the real problems.

The problem is track. We don’t have enough of it.

Unless the government removes all obstacles to building stuff quickly, commuters will continue to suffer endless delays and cancellations.

ASSASSINATION A BLOW TO RUSSIA

AS assassinations go, Tuesday’s murder of a top Russian general in Moscow was as daring as they come.

Igor Kirillov was leaving his apartment in the Russian capital shortly after 6am when a booby-trapped e-scooter exploded, instantly killing him and an aide.

Ukraine’s Security Service claimed responsibility for the audacious attack.

It blamed Kirillov for unleashing thousands of chemical attacks on Ukrainian positions during the nearly three-year war.

Moscow has predictably vowed revenge.

With both sides bogged down across the 1,000km front line, Ukraine has resorted to bold actions behind enemy lines. The killing of Kirillov shows just how good the Ukrainians are at infiltrating Russia.

Expect more in the weeks, months and possibly years to come.

SPLITTING G’S STOUT OF ORDER

APPARENTLY, there is a world-wide shortage of Guinness because of idiots “splitting the G”.

The craze is a few years old, but has recently taken on a life of its own on social media and caused beer taps to run dry, especially in the US and Britain.

Guinness sales have exploded in London and New York where pubs are reporting that every young drinker is now downing the tipple so they can partake in the craze.

It’s great for Guinness, which suffered greatly during the pandemic when pubs were forced to close.

Back to “splitting the G”. Never heard of it?

Well, it involves ordering a pint of Guinness and, in one gulp, attempting to line up the top of the beer with the middle of the letter G that is printed on the glass.

Morons. Dopes. Lemmings.

Like the Yanks, the Brits have taken to “splitting the G’ with equal gusto, so much so they’ve had to ration Guinness over there, with some boozers now forced to serve up Murphy’s and Beamish as replacements.

God love the fools who are served up a pint of either.

No disrespect to the marvellous citizens of Cork, but Murphy’s is, to my palate anyway, too sweet, and Beamish too watery.

The good news for us Irish is that Guinness has more than enough of the Black Stuff to hand to slake our thirst.

So, if you see someone “splitting the G”, give them a clip round the ear. And tell them to drink their pint, as they should do – in five or six mouthfuls before quietly nodding for another.