Father Ted - Eat your heart out.

By Ruth Feeley

Like a scene one would expect from Fr. Ted (or any other skit on the Irish nation and their hypocrisies), mass-goers all over the country were greeted by a sight that got the back up of many last Sunday. Dressed in our Sunday best, ready for a spiritual morning of prayer, our thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Fianna Fáil pitching their collection stand at the church gates. Were they having a laugh? Surprisingly they were not.

Getting steadily closer to the elections and they were out in force. Hands out, smiles in situ, like butter wouldn’t melt, they appealed to the public for money to fund their campaign and for many people on their way to mass on that wet and blustery Sunday morning, it was downright insulting. The atmosphere was laden with tension as people ‘tut tutted’ and threw their eyes up to heaven. Whispers circulated quickly with a general chorus of “Who do they think they are?” and “Well now, isn’t that rich?”

Most Sunday morning mass collections fare out pretty well as they appeal to the compassionate mood of the community. Yet these collections tend to be for people who need the money most. Money for training guide dogs, or the meals on wheels programme, or the local GAA. But not last Sunday. No, last Sunday witnessed the incumbent political party, who some hold responsible for the annihilation of our finances, asking for more of our money.

At a time when people are driving themselves into early graves agonising over how they are going to meet their mortgage costs and feed and clothe their children, people have little or no sympathy for Fianna Fáilers asking for money to fund their campaigns. Campaigns that seem to centre round their obsession with posters- though Fianna Fail are not the only participants in this lunacy.

Towns the length and breadth of the country have been completely defaced by poster campaigns that do nothing to inform the constituents, but rather bombard you with faces that at this point are starting to blend into one. Every available square inch of pole is free for the taking and as competition heats up, politicians seem to be under the illusion that the more posters they have up, the greater their chances. Aside from what money is been spent on the posters, money that is so badly needed elsewhere, it is nothing short of a travesty, the lack of respect shown to the environment.

People have noticed and are talking about it everywhere. We now know every dimension of each and every candidates face. We have now heard each of their attacks on their opposition. Yet we are still a little in the dark as to how they plan to fix our problems and leave us with enough money in our pockets to share with Sunday morning collections outside mass in the first place. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be funny.