I’m writing this column on Tuesday afternoon and it looks like a general election has been avoided. About time for the politicians to get their priorities right and put the country before party political point-scoring. It’s an understatement to say the next few months are critical for this country. Real decisions are being made in Brussels that will have an impact on generations to come.

If we were to be saddled with an election, opinion polls suggest that no party would get a clear majority. So, at this crucial time, instead of presenting a united front on Brexit, our politicians would be fighting for votes – and would then have to spend a couple of months trying to cobble together a Government. All the while, Brexit talks would move on and opportunities would be missed.

Let’s remember what all this is about. Elaine Byrne summarised it very well in last week’s Sunday Business Post. Back in 2006, Sergeant Maurice McCabe compiled a dossier of 42 cases of alleged negligent behaviour, harassment and corruption in Bailieborough, Co Cavan. Instead of getting to the truth of the matter quickly, we’ve had about 20 inquiries and investigations over 11 years and all they have produced is a forest of words.

The attempt to discredit the character of Sergeant McCabe in the vilest way as part of An Garda Síochána’s legal strategy is an absolute disgrace. Any government minister who knew of this strategy should have recognised how wrong it was and dealt with it. That didn’t happen and now we have the paper chase as to who knew what and when. And so we came to an impasse where only the resignation or sacking of Minister Fitzgerald would do.

While all this has been going on, acting Garda Commissioner Dónall O Cualáin announced that not a single garda will be disciplined for the falsification of 1,400,000 breath tests on the Garda Pulse system. I just can’t get my head around this. How much time was spent creating those false records? Then there was the issue of the 14,700 people who were wrongly convicted of motoring offences because of issues with fixed-charge notices. Again, it’s appalling.

As someone who believed the gardaí were honest and fair, I must say that my faith in the force has been seriously dented over the past year. To be honest, I don’t know how that faith can be restored. But for a start, giving GSOC the resources to get to the bottom of the allegations made by Sergeant McCabe and make people properly accountable and seen to be so would help.

Finally, I was very sorry to hear of the death of Biddy White Lennon this week. I’m old enough to remember The Riordan’s and Biddy was great in it. When I became editor of Irish Country Living, Biddy was a regular recipe contributor and it was always a pleasure to speak with her. As a founder member of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild, she was passionate about good ingredients, locally produced. I’d often get a call from her from her home in Wexford telling me about some food event and I’d be delighted to get her to cover it for us. One of the nicest things about Biddy was her wonderful laugh and I will always remember her for it. May she rest in peace. CL