According to Irish Examiner columnist Fergus Finlay recent comments by Pat Rabbitte were in response to the personal abuse of politicians on social media rather than media criticism of politics in general
Mr. Finlay is 100% wrong in his assessment as the words of Pat Rabbitte himself clearly demonstrates.
The denigration of politicians has always been there and most politicians accept that it comes with the territory.
It’s the damage to politics that concerns me because if you consign politics to the dustbin of history, what is the alternative? And five unrelenting years of pervasive negativity is having an impact.
Mr. Rabbitte is clearly not referring to the recent personalised comments on social media.
He’s specifically referring to the general media criticism of the political system since the catastrophic collapse of the economy in 2008.
Rabbitte went on to say that it was the media that was fermenting a good deal of the anger felt by the public.
Again, in addition to insulting the intelligence of Irish citizens, Rabbitte is clearly attacking the media for its commentary on the financial crisis rather than a few anonymous, personally abusive, comments on social media.
Clearly Mr. Finlay, despite a long career in politics, is suffering from a severe bout of naivety.