Howard Quayle’s government is approaching the half-way point in its five-year term - just as it is possibly facing its biggest-ever challenge.

His administration was ushered in on a wave of optimism and promises of getting things done, and doing this in a more open and transparent way, reports Adrian Darbyshire.

Now nearly two and a half years on from the September 2016 general election, is this a government that lived up to its promises - or like many before it, has it seen its popular support drain away?

There were common themes in many manifestos - the Steam Packet, Manx Gas charges, the public sector pensions blackhole, local government and rates reform and the Lord Lisvane review into the functioning of Tynwald.

Early on there were some populist decisions taken such as the move to restore TV licences for the over 75s and a U-turn over funding life-extending treatment for a little boy suffering from muscle-wasting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

But from the perspective of March 2019, this administration looks certain to be remembered for three things - taking the Steam Packet into public ownership, the Chief Minister’s preoccupation with Brexit and Abortion reform.

The latter, of course, originated from a private member’s bill by Ramsey MHK Dr Alex Allinson.

And it was steered through to Royal Assent despite the clear religious-based reservations of some Tynwald members, including a number of Ministers.

The decision to acquire the Steam Packet for £124m was a courageous one, although questions could be asked about the transparency of the process. Whether it was a good decision will become clearer in the years to come.

Brexit, of course, has overshadowed everything. Critics will say that Mr Quayle has focused on this at the expense of pressing domestic matters, when ultimately it is an issue over which neither he, nor the island, has any real control or ability to influence.

And this week, the Chief Minister travelled down to London to try to head off a potentially even more damaging issue with constitutional implications for the island - the amendments to the Financial Services Bill which could force us to bring in a public register of beneficial ownership.

In recent weeks we have seen major developments over Manx Gas charges, with the private utility jumping before it was pushed to end the controversial banded standing charges.

Ironically, publication of the Chief Minister’s committee report might actually delay the scrapping of these charges and result in customers being placed on a higher band.

We appear to be no further down the road with local government and rates reform. A consultation on rates modernisation was launched last week.

Indeed, one feature of the Quayle administration has been vast expansion in the number of public consultations - there have been no fewer than 119 conducted since September 2016, a written answer to a Tynwald question revealed last month.

Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas insists that progress is being made to make public sector pensions more sustainable but that there is no magic wand to sort out the legacy deficit.

Public finances are in good shape, despite the dire warnings by at least one candidate in the 2016 general election that the island was about to go bankrupt.

But as backbencher Chris Robertshaw said during the recent Budget debate, the island’s healthy financial position is the result of higher than expected tax revenues and low unemployment for which government cannot really take ultimate credit.

Meanwhile, operating costs of the government machine continue to grow year on year.

And what of openness and transparency?

Howard Quayle, like many politicians, has always had an uneasy relationship with the media, as highlighted in the Panorama-Paradise Papers exposés.

In his first State of the Nation address he castigated ’fake news’ and the ’increasing tendency for more sensationalism in the way stories are reported’.

In December, we submitted an FoI request for a copy of the accident investigation report in the runaway Snaefell mountain tram incident.

We are still awaiting the release of the report, after the Health and Safety at Work Inspectorate consulted with the Department of Infrastructure and the Attorney General’s Chambers.

A true test of this government’s openness and transparency will be whether this report is released, in full.