Irish Examiner view: Testing time for Europe amid terror attacks

Wed, 18 Oct, 2023 - 01:00

The images coming through from Brussels late on Monday night were wearyingly familiar. The iterations vary slightly, but emergency response vehicles parked haphazardly under street lights, first responders milling around on the fringes of a fresh crime scene — this is the visual shorthand for another terrorist attack.

The murders in the Belgian capital come at a particularly fraught time. The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to cast a long shadow across Europe, and the savagery in the Israel-Hamas conflict ramped up on Tuesday night with hundreds of casualties reported in an attack on a hospital.

In France, a teacher was stabbed to death in a school in Arras on Friday — and the same school was evacuated due to a bomb alert on Monday. It is fair to say that Europe is fraught with fears of further violence.

The killing of two Swedish football fans who were in Brussels for the Belgium vs Sweden game added a new layer of tension. The game itself was abandoned at half-time when Swedish players learned what had happened — with the gunman still at large at that point, fans and players alike were ordered to stay in the King Baudouin Stadium for their own safety before being evacuated later that evening.

The suspected killer, a Tunisian national, was himself shot dead by Belgian police, but such large-scale disruption of a major sporting event may have implications for the future.

The Rugby World Cup in France, just across the border from Belgium, for instance, is winding down but still has several significant games remaining.

Will the authorities in France now have to plan for the possibility that those games may be targeted by fanatics for maximum effect?

There can be no doubt that the Belgian authorities made the right decision on Monday evening in calling off the game at half-time. Most of those in the stadium, players included, knew that two prospective attendees had been killed; a sports event could not continue in that context.

Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden is to visit Israel. How he will balance photo ops of support for an ally with sharing the stage with those who would attack innocent men, women, and children in an increasingly desperate quest for vengeance is anyone’s guess. He must attempt to rein in Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s response to Hamas’ terrorism continues to affect vulnerable and innocent Palestinians.

Health budget sparks tensions

Tensions in the Coalition are running along traditional lines.

The inciting incident is — no surprise — the vast costs associated with running the Department of Health. HSE head Bernard Gloster has been fast out of the blocks, saying that his allocation for next year will be below what is required, while Health Minister Stephen Donnelly is reported as saying the health service is “underfunded”.

The political fallout is blowing in both directions at once. On the Fine Gael side, there is unhappiness at what they see as attempts to blame Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe for not allowing extra health spending. On the Fianna Fáil side, there is unhappiness at the criticism of the health minister, with the Tánaiste saying there has been an “overpersonalisation” of criticism of the health budget.

Some of this can be filed under the old Breandán Ó hEithir line, “compliments pass when the quality meet, and seen as the inevitable chafing when different entities are yoked together for a long period”. Add in the proverbial challenge of managing the health budget, and such squabbling comes as no surprise.

However, the dynamic changes slightly when the end of the Coalition is far closer than the beginning. At a certain point in these forced marriages, the impetus to share the credit yields to the impulse to spread the blame, and a nagging realisation can take hold when disagreements arise: Is this the dispute that will end the partnership?

Whether we have reached that point with this Coalition remains to be seen, though even with the current spat over health costs, it would be surprising if the Government did not seek to bask in the reflected glory of its recent budget for some time at least.

In the greater scheme of things — and returning to the health budget — it was good to see the impending strike by health and social care workers called off after talks ended with an agreement on pay. Such workers are an integral part of the health system and deserve every support, no matter what disputes arise at the political level.

Keith Earls did not put a foot wrong

Keith Earls didn’t put a foot wrong when retiring from rugby on Tuesday. No surprise there: Footwork was one of the key weapons in his arsenal, after all.

Earls enjoyed huge success as a player. He played for Munster more than 200 times, won over 100 international caps, and toured with the British and Irish Lions. His strike rate in the green jersey is second only to Brian O’Driscoll — he ends his career with 36 test tries to his name, having scored his very first try 15 years ago, two minutes into his international debut against Canada.

In his retirement statement, he was careful to thank those who helped him along the way — his team-mates and coaches at provincial and international level, but also others who made the journey with him: parents Ger and Sandra and sister Jenny, wife Edel, children Ella-May, Laurie, and Emie, as well as the “coaches, teachers, and volunteers who encouraged and guided me in Thomond, Garryowen, and Young Munster and at school in St Munchin’s College”.

Earls always kept his feet on the ground. That’s why his career took off the way it did.

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