The Government is now approaching the anniversary of its third year in power and its default response to all criticism that everything was the fault of the last shower has become as diluted (and effective) as a homeopathy potion.
Hardly a day goes by where a Minister doesn’t refer to legacy issues from the last government or the mess that was inherited.
But in the last few weeks in particular we have seen some very fine examples of original works from the Coalition, the provenance of which can’t be traced back beyond March 2011.
Irish Water is a quango of the Coalition’s own making and the controversy over consultants fees cannot be blamed on anyone else.
Similarly, the continuing problems surrounding the HSE Service Plan for 2014 and the current phase of Eirgrid’s Grid 25 project including 220km of high voltage cables and 750 large pylons, are not legacy issues. And while there is a historical dimension to executive pay in voluntary hospitals and agencies, the evidence seems to be that those in Government with responsibility took their eyes off the dropping ball.
And then there is the Legal Services Regulation Bill. It’s been knocking around since 2011. There has been huge wrangling within the Coalition on what should be included and excluded. That has yet to be resolved.
The Dáil returns tomorrow after its Christmas break with a legislative programme that is sparse enough. Only two pieces of 2013 legislation are due to come before the Dáil, both of which are straightforward (the Road Traffic No 2 Bill 2013 and the Betting Amendment Bill 2013); with two other 2013 Bills before the Seanad (the Local Government Reform Bill 2013; and the Valuation Amendment Bill 2013).
With the exception of the jousting of Leaders Questions, attention will be elsewhere this week, on committee proceedings and outside the house. The bulk of the controversies surround process and personality rather than issue or ideology.
The issue that has commanded most attention over the past five days has been the substantial spend by Irish Water, or Uisce Éireann, on consultancies in the first year of its operation. Over €50million has been spent and it has caused uproar in the opposition ranks, and more than raised eyebrows at Government level. The Minister of State with responsibility in this area Fergus O’Dowd repeated, incessantly yesterday that everything was open and transparent.
But the evidence has been that it is anything but this in the first 12 months of operation. When chief executive John Tierney appears before the Environment Committee tomorrow, the focus will be on the amount spent, the consultants hired, the work they did, and Uisce Éireann's recruitment policies (there have been criticisms that too many 'insiders' were appointed by the company).
Minister for Health James Reilly and HSE chief executive Tony O'Brien will appear before the Health Committee to give an update on health issues. Tomorrow Mr O'Brien will brief the committee on the service plan. Expect some very robust exchanges as health overspending has become a running sore for the Minister and the coalition. There was much exasperation among Ministers just before Christmas when Dr Reilly gave a less than authoritative briefing on the updated plan at a Cabinet meeting.
The long-running attempt to modernise the legal profession and to break down restricted practices, the Legal Services Regulation Bill (the Oireachtas version of Charles Dickens' never-ending case Jarndyce v Jarndyce) resumes on Wednesday before the Justice Committee. The Bill was the cause of a fiery row between Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and Labour Ministers at the same Cabinet meeting, with Labour seemingly adopting the stance of the Bar Council on the matter.
The other big process controversy surrounds the pay levels of executives at voluntary hospitals. There will be huge interest in the appearances of Nicholas Jermyn, CEO of the St Vincent's Hospital group and the former CEO of the Central Remedial Clinic Brian Conlon on Thursday.
Elsewhere, the well-organised campaign against Eirgrid's plans for overhead high voltage cables linking Leinster and Munster continues.
And the Democracy Matters group reconvenes today 100 days after the referendum to put forward its proposals for Seanad reform. And that issue is definitely not a legacy one. Indeed, the whole idea of Seanad abolition stemmed from a 2009 speech given by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
There are plenty of rows this week with the potential to backfoot or embarrass the Coalition. And that’s this Coalition, not the whipping boy otherwise known as the previous coalition.
