Shorthall resignation: Is it a glimmer of hope for Irish citizens?

Well done to Roisin Shortall. An Irish government minister resigning on a point of principle is a very rare event indeed.

Betrayed Irish citizens can only hope it’s the first glimmer of a change in the corrupt, gombeen culture of Irish politics.

And make no mistake about it; Health Minister James O’Reilly is a gombeen, stroke politician of the lowest order.

As is his fellow gombeen colleague Leo Varadkar who provided us with some hilarity in his attempts to sound ethical while defending gombeenism.

Asked by Sean O’Rourke if O’Reilly had engaged in stroke politics Varadkar replied:

It looks like it but I don’t know if it is or not.

Varadkar likes to see himself as one of the brave new wave of politicians who are going to change the way politics is done in Ireland.

Unfortunately, as he tries to sound honest and ethical he just can’t quite manage to pull away from the gombeen influence that he was weaned on.

And so he ends up being ridiculous by effectively claiming:

Yes, it is stroke politics (The brave new Varadkar).
But no, it’s not stroke politics (The gombeen Varadkar).

In the end politicians like Varadkar will have to make a choice, regress back fully into the mindset of gombeenism or follow the example of politicians like Ms. Shortall and stand on principle, whatever the cost.