Tuesday 2 December 2008

There is no 'Dublin Government'

Call it what you like, the Irish Government, the National Government, the Government of the Republic, the Free State Governent, the 26 County Government, but the government that resides in Dublin is not the Dublin Government, in fact, there is no ‘Dublin Government.’
The representatives in Leinster House are elected by the people of the entire Irish Republic, not by the people of Dublin, and as well as that, a large number of the TDs elected in Dublin aren't even from the capital originally.
From what I see people from outside the city only use the term ‘Dublin Government’ when they don't like a decision made by the national government, which they elect themselves.
They disagree with a decision the government makes and because that government is located in Dublin, they blame the people of Dublin, or the city itself.
The use of ‘Dublin’ in this case is meant as a term of abuse, playing to the chip on the shoulder that some people in Ireland have about the capital, the same chip people in every country in the world have about their capitals or largest cities. This is all the more ironic given that our ruling Fianna Fáil party gets more support outside Dublin than in it.
Republicans may not like to use the term ‘Irish Government’ in case it is seen to legitimize partition in some way, but whatever about the issues people have with the term, the 'Irish Government' it is still far more accurate than the ‘Dublin Government.’
I've heard people from outside the city complaining along the lines that ‘Dublin doesn't care about us.’
You would almost think that there was some sort of a conspiracy involving the one million people living in Dublin to cod the rest of the country.
I don't hear people saying that Donegal, Galway, Cork, Tipperary or any other county in Ireland 'cares' about Dublin or anywhere else, or how exactly an entire county can care about another one.
Not only is it inaccurate to compain about the 'Dublin Government', it's childish and it does people outside of Dublin more harm than good by focusing their anger on the wrong culprit for any lack of fair play from the national government, real or imagined.
If there are problems in Ireland they are not the fault of the 'Dublin Goverment,' because no such a thing exists.

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