(Image Credit: Screengrab/RTÉ)
MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS Pat Rabbitte revealed this morning that when he was a young student politician, he believed the source of power was long hair… kinda.
Speaking as part of a series of interviews with cabinet ministers on RTÉ’s Morning Edition, Minister Rabbitte spoke about the early days of his political career as President of the Union of Student in Ireland.
When asked on whether he saw himself ending up at the highest levels of politics, he said that many of his generation who lived in “extraordinary times, when the world was young and extremely divided” ended up “prominent in politics or public affairs or the media in one fashion or another”.
At that young age entering politics, he did certainly believe he could go far:
“When I had the long hair, I was certainly convinced I could change the world”.
(Image Credit: Screengrab/RTÉ)
And there it is, his hair in all its glory. It’s not really that long.
After years in politics, has he become a little jaded? Not really, it seems.
“I still have a belief in the political system,” Minister Rabbitte told RTÉ, “but changing the world has proved a more difficult task than I thought at 19. Incremental change seems to be the best that you can get in a democratic system”.
“Politics has taken a hammering, and it is true that the practice of politics has been debased by your recent history and our failure to discharge our responsibility in terms of supervising the banking system and so on… but I think it’s very important that the denigration of politics isn’t allowed to continue.
Another current Labour minister appeared in the archive footage shown by RTÉ, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin, seen below.
(Image Credit: Screengrab/RTÉ)
Although they made an appearance on the programme, he was not questioned about his possession, at some point in the past, of fairly significant sideburns.
(Image Credit: Screengrab/RTÉ)
UTV Ireland
The Minister also welcomed the announcement this morning that UTV will be launching a station in the Republic of Ireland, saying that it will increase competition and create jobs.
However, he said the decision on whether or not the station will definitely go on-air in 2015 is still up to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, but he believes the station has enough experience to “jump through whatever hoops are required”.
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