I'd agree. The general consensus that politicians are gombeens is unfounded in most cases. Can people genuinely say that George Lee was a more accomplished economist than Richard Bruton?
At the end of the day he was a celebrity economics journalist. Given the platform he had it wasn't hard to sound sensible. It was probably a different story when he came up against better briefed and most accomplished associates.
To be fair, George Lee was more than a celebrity economics journalist. He is an actual trained economist with real experience in the field albeit a long time ago so I find it hard to believe that he met many better briefed and accomplished associates in the Dail.