ONE of the ironies in the aftermath of the airport firefighters’ industrial action is that not only cannot the States agree on whether its ending was acceptable or not, members cannot agree on how best to go about questioning that ending.

Two things are clearly imperative to establish: who or what was responsible for the catastrophic closure and what will prevent that from happening again?

There are many elements to answering that question, not least the attitude of the firecrew and their union, the involvement of the States negotiators, the role of the men’s employer, the Public Services Department, and ultimately the Policy Council in its guise as the Emergency Powers Authority.

Drilling down into that will be a complex and painstaking matter and one of pressing public interest.

Yet government appears unable to tell islanders how it intends to proceed.

One deputy intends a petition to the Assembly to seek a legal form of inquiry – something this newspaper believes is a more rigorous approach – but Frossard House sources believe the cost could approach £700,000.

The reason? The States own legal adviser, HM Comptroller, is conflicted out because of his own  involvement in the dispute.

Scrutiny has already decided to go ahead with its own probe but with three deputies and only two external assessors that will leave it open to criticism for lacking independence.

It could, of course, switch that balance and would be well advised to do so. Until the external members are known, however, islanders will struggle to regard it as a compelling inquisitor.

But perhaps the main concern they will have is this: Allowing the airport to close down was a States of Guernsey problem and it required action from the centre of government to resolve it.

The initiative for the subsequent review ought to be coming from the Policy Council not from an individual deputy or even a committee.

If government in the widest sense cannot take control of how a serious matter is to be investigated then we really have rock bottom.