When Tanáiste Leo Varadkar pops his clogs his undoubted legacy will include the fact that he was one of our politicians who did his utmost to perfect the art of divide and conquer.
From a leader who looked at one stage that he could copperfasten Fine Gael as a long time major player in Irish politics, he has, because of his insatiable belief in his own importance, managed to split FG into a party of internal discontent.
His ability to turn a highway into a laneway has been bettered only by FF leader Micheál Martin who has single handedly transformed Fianna Fáil into a party of disgruntled old and dissatisfied young politicians who know they are driving nowhere at the speed of knots.
But let’s not take the spotlight off the man who for whatever reason has earned himself the nickname of ‘Leo the Leak’.
God only knows how long he sits up in the bed at night conjuring up ideas that may earn him a kudo at the expense of dithering Martin and sleepy Ryan.
LICK THEMSELVES TO DEATH
In some respects Varadkar and Martin appear to be good mates, at other times they take on the mantle of deadly enemies (well sort of deadly).
Reality is that they deserve each other and their common denominator is that if each were a bar of chocolate both would lick themselves to death.
The Tanáiste may fill his good idea balloons with Helium but it doesn’t take long for somebody to prick the high flyers.
For instance he probably thought it was a clever move to champion the cause of a ‘digital green certificate vaccine pass’ to, in his own words, allow the fully vaccinated more freedom.
Fair play, did I ever offend.
Sometimes opportunism can escape as carelessness.
In a nutshell, the presumption is that Varadkar and his allies propose to take the shackles off those who take the Coronavirus jab while confining the rest, the bad boys and girls maybe, to their cocooning.
The good ideas’ genius is playing a dangerous game and his efforts may be leaning to another own goal.
More freedom for those who have been vaccinated is his message.
SPECIAL BRANCH MONITOR MOVEMENTS
Presumably those who have not got the jab will be watched closely by Gardai and Special Branch to monitor any naughty movements.
And if they don’t eventually hold out their arms, the bold boys and girls will be herded together and will be akin to the unfortunate lepers of another time.
Unclean, unclean!
An idea, Mr Varadkar, may not so cleverly have thought out and utterly divisive.
If he were trying to twist the arms of anti-vaxers in a bid to instill some sense into them, it would be somewhat understandable.
But his modus operandi smacks of embarrassing all those who decide that vaccine might not be for their bodies.
Some people may be worried about any side effects of vaccines but no doubt they will also have in the back of their minds that they just could lose the battle with Covid without any vaccine.
The latter will eventually make up their own minds about their own bodies.
But regardless of what decisions they make, they will hardly be influenced by a man who just cannot help hammering at a nut with a sledgehammer.
We are constantly being reminded that we are in this together.
Varadkar, aided and abetted by Ryan, is slowly but surely pulling the whole thing asunder.
And those who see vaccine as Manna from Heaven or are not so sure will make the right decisions as we all crave for normality.
Prodding from on high is no longer being listened to by most of our people, law abiding citizens who simply want a return to life without fear.
