George Lee

So George Lee has announced his resignation from Fine Gael and the Dáil. All this after only being elected last June in a blaze of glory. Why?

Early comments have tended to follow the line already being peddled by Fine Gael - he's a prima donna; wanted to be running things when he wasn't a wet day in the place, etc,. Perhaps this is partly true. But I think if we dig a bit deeper we will see a truth to George Lee's decision that has less to do with him and an awful lot to do with the deficiencies of our political and parliamentary system.

George Lee TD seems to have run slap-bang into the wall of irrelevance that is the lot of the modern TD. He clearly thought that, once he had been elected, he would be at the centre of policymaking in the main opposition party and would have a key role in formulating a response to the economic crisis. The fact that a senior journalist of long-standing could actually have believed this, is the real personal failing of Lee in this sorry saga.

The disgust and frustration that has driven Lee to throw in the towel after such a short time is a crystal-clear warning to the rest of us that the system is dangerously broken. That a man of his talent and enthusiasm was so badly misplaced in our national parliament speaks volumes as to the creaking culture of seniority and pettiness in our major parties. This is the same culture that sees the continuous advancement of front-bench spokesmen in the major parties who clearly haven't the first idea about the briefs on which they have been chosen to speak. Rather, they are chosen for the age-old reason that they have been around longer than anyone else, or come from an electorally tricky part of the country, so the profile needs to be 'upped' to keep the folks back home happy.

Lee fell into this quicksand of mediocrity where his own high profile, educational qualifications and insight were of no use to him whatsoever, compared to the semi-literate know-nothings who were cluttering up the benches around him.

George Lee is lucky enough to have a job in RTE to return to. This is a luxury the rest of us don't enjoy so there is no need to feel too sorry for him. But we can thank him for being our emissary from the real world who ventured into the arcane darkness of the Irish political system and returned to tell us it is no longer fit for purpose.