So it is too with the State’s handling of the near collapse of our imports because of the infrastructural damage done to the port of Holyhead during Storm Darragh; there is also the thorny issue of compensation promised to hauliers as a result of the closure of the Welsh port.

On top of that, the 40,000 new houses claimed throughout the election campaign to have been built last year has turned into a figure of just over 30,000 officially and people are beginning to question whether they were deliberately misled.

Then we had the unveiling of the new Cabinet and the obvious lack of female ministers in it, followed quickly by the appointment of as record number of junior ministers with — you guessed it — an obvious lack of women within their number. Gender balance promises kept? Not much. The regional imbalance between promises made in Dublin and those for the rest of the country continues to be stark.

The new administration is less than two weeks old and already it would appear that it is relaxed, at best, about delivering on some of its election promises and seemingly uncaring about many others. Critically, however, addressing some of this nation’s obvious shortcomings when it comes to cleaning up the mess left by Storm Éowyn — or Storm Darragh, for that matter — seems not to be anywhere near the top of the Government’s to-do list.

As many people across the country slid into a second week without heat, light, or water, there seems to be no rush whatsoever to prioritise the inevitable consequences of a climate-affected world. Certainly there has been a focus on the urgent need to restore vital services to those without them, but there has been a near complete absence of debate on how we should be working to prevent this happening again.

Nor has there been any real discussion on our over-reliance on Holyhead as the main hub for our imports. It is privately owned by Stena Line but should Ireland contemplate buying it and giving it the overhauls necessary to storm-proof the port?

On housing, should we be looking to return to council-run housing schemes of days gone by to provide the huge number of new builds this country needs? Where is the action so desperately needed to actually put roofs over heads?

It does not bode well that, just a fortnight in, the new Government appears to have lost contact with the people it serves and is unwilling to listen to those who elected it.

The new administration needs to up its game — fast.

Crumbling walls 

Since the Second World War, in Germany there has existed what is called a ‘Brandmauer’ — a firewall against the sort of far-right politics espoused by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party. In the past week, however, it has started to crumble.

Ahead of the snap German general election on February 23, the political stability of Europe’s most powerful economy is febrile and allowing extremist viewpoints gain the sort of traction not seen since the Nazis came to power.

Last week, we witnessed the main opposition in the Bundestag, the Christian Democrats, led by Friedrich Merz, making an incalculable blunder in allowing the right-wing Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) an opportunity to split the political centre and shatter the previously inviolable firewall.

Merz’s decision to take a firm stance on immigration by pushing two motions through parliament drew support from the AfD and brickbats from his main political rivals, the ruling Social Democrats and the Greens. It also caused a rebellion within his own party and drew a rare rebuke from former party leader and chancellor Angela Merkel.

Having damaged his own party and emboldened the AfD, Merz also shattered the ‘Brandmauer’ and reneged on a previous promise never to vote with a party suspected of being an extremist group by the country’s intelligence services.

The prospect of anti-democratic forces once more taking centre stage in German politics was not so long ago thought impossible. Not so now.