Enough government incompetence to go around

What government Minister or state body will be the 'great freeze' headline maker tomorrow morning?

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, who was in Malta for the week when all forms of transport were grinding to a halt in the face of our complete weather shut-down?

Or maybe Met Eireann - the national weather service - after they clearly blew the forecast for this weekend. We were supposed to be digging out from 10cm! (that's 4 inches!!) of snow today, but instead it's raining. And it's going to go on raining. There'll probably be no ice or snow left on the roads by the morning. Weather.com - based in America - called it right, but our local meteorology experts got it totally wrong.

What about the Dublin Airport Authority, which twice in the past few days has had to close the airport after falls of snow totaling less than one inch?

Or what about any of the local roads authorities, all of which were found wanting in the face of very minor snow totals?

But despite all those respectable choices, my vote goes to the Minister for Education, who first of all did nothing and allowed some schools to open when they shouldn't have, then in the face of some criticism panicked and announced - on Friday - that all schools would be closed this week until Thursday. Snow closures should always be day-to-day, especially in a place like this where you can never rely on the weather.

Thanks to the Minister's decision, thousands of working parents have to figure out how to have their children looked after while they're at work because there will no reasonable excuse for not getting to work tomorrow.

I expect all the roads to be cleared, thanks to God's intervention. The Minister either has to backtrack or live with the inevitable headlines showing empty schools and snow-less roads and sidewalks.