A lesson in consequences, or Bravo, Jim Gavin

THESE ARE unnerving times in the southern Caribbean, caught somewhat helplessly between two immensely volatile forces: America’s felon-president, Trump, and Venezuela’s kleptocrat-in-chief, Maduro.

I’m not sure there’s anything substantive TT can do to improve the situation, though the Prime Minister’s pick-a-side-and-hope-for-the-best approach isn’t my idea of inspiring diplomacy. Nonetheless, the only obvious alternative is an unconvincing neutrality that might serve merely to aggravate both parties that TT is hoping to see placated.

It would seem that whatever may or may not be about to happen between the US and Venezuela is well beyond TT’s control. Which is why I choose to seek comfort from events in faraway places. Places like Ireland.

Ireland will elect its tenth president on October 24. The contest has narrowed to a two-person race, after renowned Gaelic football star (and one of the most successful managers in the sport’s history), Jim Gavin, withdrew due to the embarrassment of an outstanding debt.

The debt dates back to 2009, before his transcendent achievements (as manager, he led Dublin’s Gaelic football team to five consecutive All-Ireland titles from 2015 to 2019) made Gavin a sporting legend.

In 2009, a shell-shocked Ireland was still finding its way back from financial crisis: money was tight for a lot of people. At the time, Jim Gavin at least had some cash coming in from rent on an apartment he owned in Dublin. A tenant leaving that apartment forgot to cancel the automatic rent deposits he was making to Gavin, and didn’t catch the error until an overpayment of 3,300 euros (about TT$26,000) had accumulated.

On realising his mistake, the former tenant asked Gavin to return the money that had been overpaid. And then he asked again. And again. And again.

The money was never returned. Everyone moved on with their lives. Until 2025 rolled around and Jim Gavin was announced as a candidate for the Irish presidency. Suddenly, the idea that Gavin was a man who didn’t make good on his debts was newsworthy. After a brief initial attempt to deny any knowledge of the matter, Gavin abruptly terminated his candidacy.

This has caused a minor brouhaha in Ireland, where Gavin was perceived to be the preferred and personal choice of Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin, who is now answering uncomfortable questions from within his own party about the quality of his leadership and judgement.

But for me, this is an encouraging story.

Look around the world, and you see politics flourishing without a sense of shame. In Argentina, President Javier Milei soldiers on despite credible allegations of nepotism (his sister has a cabinet-level position) and corruption (she is implicated in an ongoing bribery investigation).

Donald Trump has been judged guilty on 34 felony charges, found liable for sexual assault in a civil lawsuit, and was twice impeached by the US House of Representatives – and he still won a second term as US President.

We’re way past the point of questioning whether those in public office should be held to a higher standard. All around the world, people are cheerfully voting for candidates with histories that would disqualify them from most hiring pools. “You bankrupted how many casinos? On purpose? Wow. Sure, you absolutely should run a country.”

So when a presidential candidate gets confronted by a bad debt – a debt incurred entirely by accident – and decides to bow out of politics, it feels like a sort of progress. A glimmer of possibility that it’s still conceivable for people in public life to hold themselves accountable for their actions (since we, the electorate, do not seem up to the job).

Or not. Some commentators in Ireland have noted that Jim Gavin is not a politician, and that it is perhaps precisely because he isn’t committed to politics as a career that he seems to have retained a sense of actions having consequences.

But I hope otherwise. Next time you see a politician brazenly seeking to talk past the fact they’re hoist by their own petard, remind them they can take the Jim Gavin option: accept responsibility, quit, and let us all move along smartly.

One other point worth noting from Ireland’s presidential election – it is an actual election, despite the presidency being a largely ceremonial position.

On October 24, either Catherine Connolly or Heather Humphreys will be president of Ireland because they were directly elected by their fellow citizens, rather than appointed by whoever happened to have a majority in parliament when it was time for a change.