OPINION: Power outages and political tempests

My long-suffering editor will confirm that my adherence to deadlines is not my greatest strength. It’s an area in which I am striving to improve, but alas, this column is one of many arriving to the Mayo News office several hours (cough, days) late.

It may come as a surprise, but sometimes I struggle to find things about which to have opinions, which is slightly problematic when you write an opinion column. So last week I was faffing about with a piece with which I just wasn’t happy, and I was holding off sending it lest some inspiration strike at the last minute.

But Storm Éowyn struck instead, and in its fierce fury, took out the power, the internet, the mobile coverage and any hope I had of getting this column submitted at a respectable level of lateness. It’s incredible how powerless (literally and figuratively) we can feel without our basic energy and connectivity needs being met. Now, it’s spectacularly late, so I may as well go for broke and start over with a reflection on the character of Mr Éowyn, who I hope, didn’t cause too much harm to readers.

Éowyn is a lovely name, isn’t it? It conjures up images of a mild-mannered Welshman with a well-coiffed quiff. If you’d asked me last week, I’d have pictured Éowyn as someone who worked in sustainability: cycling to work, voting Labour, drinking oat cappuccinos, keeping his nails clean, and wearing chinos. You’d have been happy enough to make him a cup of tea and offer him one of the chocolate Kimberleys if he came to assess your house for an energy efficiency upgrade. I wouldn’t have guessed he’d be so loud or temperamental, but it just goes to show – you never know with men.

Before Éowyn’s arrival, many people (including some politicians, who should know better) had criticised red weather warnings, complaining they were overly dramatic. However, the widespread destruction we witnessed last week might counter this narrative and remind us of the wind’s sheer power. It also shows the importance of being warned to stay safe. Back in 2017, there was outrage when Storm Ophelia turned out to be less severe than expected, but we forget that three people died in that storm. Without warnings, the toll could have been far worse. How fortunate we are to have technology that keeps us safe; if the worst doesn’t happen, it’s a small complaint.

Weather warnings aren’t for know-it-alls or anti-establishment cranks. They’re for people who want to tie down their garden furniture, buy batteries and gas, check on their neighbours, and avoid being injured by debris. They’re for those humble enough to trust experts.

Wouldn’t it be great if the same could be said for some of our newly appointed cabinet (yes, the one full of Jims and less full of women)? It is disappointing to see some of the most important portfolios go to people who appear to have a strong track record not in delivery, but in not listening to people who know more than them. It strikes me as remarkable too that a minister who could have failed so badly and broken so many promises in the Department of Housing could be granted another portfolio with responsibility for infrastructure. Equally, it strikes me as unsurprising that so many people with disabilities have expressed disappointment with the cabinet announcement. But best of luck to the new ministers – they all have huge jobs ahead of them and even if they excel, it’s unlikely they can expect much praise.

Storm Éowyn was preceded by another tempest in the Dáil on Wednesday. Many called it unedifying, and to some extent, it was. But for those of us sick of the Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael monopoly, it offered a glimmer of hope. By uniting against the gaslighting of government parties and the preposterous anti-democratic demands of government-supporting Independents for Opposition speaking time, the opposition showed that parties of the Left can actually collaborate and loudly (and literally) condemn undemocratic practices.

If ordinary people – most of whom who simply want more fairness, less wealth inequality, and proper access to functional public services, health and housing – are to have any hope, we need more of this. In their attempt to pull a(nother) stroke, scandal-mired millionaire Lowry and his merry band of Independents might just have prompted a significant moment in Irish political history that they will hopefully live to regret.

Combine this bizarre backdrop with events in the US, where millionaires and billionaires are genuinely subverting democracy, it is hardly surprising that many people in Ireland are worried about the future of both our planetary and political climate.

One thing is clear though. Women may be largely absent from the cabinet table in Ireland, but they assert power in other ways, especially when provoked or hurt. For all the power claimed by politicians, dictators, techbros, millionaires and billionaires, the increasing severity of weather events here and across the world reminds us that none of those people, no matter how powerful, is a match for the most formidable, wounded woman of all: Mother Nature. Continuing to miss her deadlines will cost us the Earth.