Seamus shafted

He Who Must Be Obeyed has - for some bizarre reason, unbeknownst to anyone but himself - shafted one of the few ministers who have actually done anything worthwhile during their tenure.

So farewell, then, aul' Mr Brennan.

In a forest of scrubby stumps of failure, Brennan was a towering oak of achievement. Maybe HWMBO was getting tired of aul' Mr Brennan getting all the good press and decided to cut him down to size, as it were.

But even more bizarre than his felling is the choice of replacement - Martin 'Bulldozer' Cullen, the minister for smugness and using taxpayers' money to pay scantily-clad young ladies to prance around at press conferences.

What was HWMBO thinking? If I was an irrational, paranoid man, I might think he was taking the mickey.

What has Mr Cullen ever achieved of note? Wasting €50 million of our money on an unnecessary electronic voting system that's now gathering dust in some warehouse? What a legend. Knowing his record for protecting the environment, he'll probably try to make SUVs mandatory.

Now, I make no apologies for my admiration for Mr Brennan. Many dubbed him - perhaps a touch unfairly - the Minister for Promises. He was forever announcing new initiatives, new proposals, new projects.

At last count, 40 in all over the past two years. But that is what politicians do. The one difference between Brennan and most of his colleagues was he actually bothered to see some of his pledges through.

His was not an easy brief. Brian Cowen once famously described the Department of Health as "Angola" because of the number of political landmines scattered about. He could just have easily been talking about the Department of Transport.

Brennan's record was far from perfect. He wasn't exactly a master of dealing with irate unions. Take the Aer Rianta fiasco, for example. He can't have too many friends left working in the airline business. Nor, I imagine, are the thousands of motorists stuck in Dublin's gridlock too sorry to see the back of him. Nor will he be mourned in isolated rural communities still pining for a decent bus service.

But then again, look at what he achieved. Dozens of towns and villages rescued from slow asphyxiation by being bypassed; Massive investment in the rail network; €100 million a week spent on road-building; Luas up and running (into cars mostly, but we'll save that for another rant).

And la crème de la menthe, to quote Del Boy Trotter, penalty points delivered, albeit imperfectly.

In November 2002, in the face of ridicule from all corners, this one included, Brennan took the brave decision to implement a system that he probably knew was deeply flawed, scrapping tooth and nail with the Dark Lord of the Department of Justice and his minions in the Phoenix Park in order to do so.

He is directly responsible, in my book, for saving scores of lives. How many other ministers can claim that? And what does he get for his trouble? Shafted. Not even given the chance to finish what he started. It's very fishy.

I suspect a PD hand in all of this. But enough. Diatribes are pointless. Bulldozer Cullen has no need of my help in making him look dark and devious. He's well capable of that himself. Just give him time.