Tánaiste Simon Coveney told the Guild of Agricultural Journalists Michael Dillon memorial lecture in Dublin last Friday night that the biggest single issue in Irish politics over the next 12 months will be – wait for it – Brexit.

And yet, according to the RTÉ election exit poll, only one in 100 people said it concerned them, a real indicator of the “disconnect” between the public and the Government. And it is very worrying. Here is the man at the coalface of the Brexit story telling us that we should be worried.

In his first three years in the White House, [Trump] made 16,200 false or misleading claims according to their fact checker database

And knowing the financial consequences of a bad trade deal, we still don’t care. Why not? It’s because we have now entered a phase of democratic politics where detail and truth matter little. It is all about spin and slogans.

The Washington Post is keeping track on statements made by President Donald Trump. In his first three years in the White House, he made 16,200 false or misleading claims according to their fact checker database. Yet only a fool would bet against him winning a second term.

What was the first item on the agenda once they left? Curbing immigration with a grotesque points system

British Prime Minister Boris Johnston has a loose relationship with the truth, but he’ll be comfortable in Number 10 for as long as he wishes. We were told: “Oh Brexit is not about immigration.” What was the first item on the agenda once they left? Curbing immigration with a grotesque points system. “Make America great again”, “Build the wall” and “Get Brexit done”, are three slogans which encapsulate this shallow and worrying development in how politics works. I have no doubt but Mary Lou McDonald’s “tweedledee” and “tweedeldom” put down while standing between the blue-suited Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin in the RTÉ TV pre-election debate won her party several thousand more votes there and then with that one killer sound bite.

And now as we talk more and more about sexy issues such as a border poll, how many of those calling for it actually know about the structures in place to instigate it?

Voters reportedly went into polling booths in one Cork constituency where there was no Sinn Fein candidate running and asked: “How can I vote for Mary Lou?” Since when did people start going into polling booths to vote without knowing what local candidates they were thinking of voting for? And now as we talk more and more about sexy issues such as a border poll, how many of those calling for it actually know about the structures in place to instigate it?

Before we even begin the discussion about a united Ireland, do people realise we’ll probably need to surrender our national flag, our national anthem and the compulsory teaching of Irish in schools? Can you see Unionists happily waving the tricolour or learning the words of Amhrán na bhFiann?

But in this age of slogan-soundbite politics, why let the truth get in the way of a popular political vote getter? That said, the seismic change in the political landscape reflected a genuine simmering disquiet among people on a wide variety of issues outside of housing and health.

Sinn Féin were in the right place at the right time to reap the rewards

For example, middle-class country parents bled dry funding their college going children’s rent and fed-up farmers left feeling abandoned by a more urban focused Fine Gael. Sinn Féin were in the right place at the right time to reap the rewards with the “parties of the landlords and bankers” charge chiming perfectly with that protest vote although I’m sure Sinn Féin would like to think that people voted for their policies too.

Well whatever the reason, the lesson for the Government is, in an election campaign, don’t focus on real big threats like Brexit because 99% of us don’t care.

A slippery slope

Leaving Brewster Park in Enniskillen last Saturday night having watched Cavan’s third league win in a row, some supporters were heard saying: “We better be very careful or we might get promoted!”