- Opinion
- 03 Oct 13
Any differences between the main two (many would say the main three) parties in Irish politics are so negligible as to make them virtually interchangeable. So why don’t they merge? And could it happen soon?
So, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said that the Government intends to see out the full five years of its mandate and will seek re-election in March 2016. That, as many have already said, is very close to the anniversary of the 1916 rising: very close indeed. While President Higgins will still be in the Áras and we all know who will oversee the planning for that iconic date, it remains to be seen who will actually be in charge as the flags are raised over the Easter weekend...
Well, there are intriguing signs that people are beginning to re-think the big arrangements.
Mary O’Rourke was early into the mix. Speaking at the William Carlton Summer School in Clogher, Co Tyrone last August she suggested that, “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael... bridge the political divide between them and give serious thought to coming together in a political coalition come the next general election.”
The thing is, Mary O’Rourke is a Fianna Fáil grandee, a member of the Lenihan family, a formidable politician herself, someone capable of successfully holding down a succession of Ministries. For all the audience-friendly persona she now projects, she’s still a political thinker of some heft.
A fortnight later, broadcaster Bill O’Herlihy gave the idea further momentum when he spoke at the annual Béal na Bláth commemoration. This ceremonial, as you may know, is one of the most important days of the year for members of Fine Gael. It has traditionally been an occasion to restate the fundamentals of the FG faith, but in recent years a more ecumenical note has emerged. Several years ago, for example, the speaker was the late Brian Lenihan.
You might say that Bill simply stated the obvious, which is that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil share core values. Does it make any sense, he asked, “to have the major political parties tussling for power where for so long the width of a sheet of paper scarcely separated their policies”?
He has a point... and then some.
The central difference is historic. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael derive from opposing sides in the Civil War. But that ended ninety years ago, and regarding the Republic and “the national question”, the parties are now essentially the same. Nor do they differ in any appreciable way on social and economic policies.
The thing is, while you and I might know Bill O’Helihy best for his anchorage of RTE’s football coverage – as with Mary O’Rourke in Fianna Fáil – he’s a Fine Gael grandee of some standing. For example, he was media advisor to the late Garret Fitzgerald when the latter was Taoiseach. In the iconic setting of Béal na Bláth, O’Herlihy isn’t just a pundit. He’s a player...
So, that’s two grandees and a modest proposal... Threading through Bill’s speech was a fear that the ball might just bounce the wrong way in March 1916, and we might wake up after the election to find the front seats at the 1916 commemoration occupied by members of a Fianna Fáil/Sinn Féin government. A grand coalition between the two biggest, and most conservative, parties might forestall a prospect that is seen as deeply unpalatable by political centrists of various stripes.
Funny enough, at almost exactly the same time as Billo was waxing lyrical, Labour TD Emmet Stagg said that he could foresee Labour forming a coalition with Sinn Féin at some point in the future. Jasus they’re all at it! And the thing is, Emmet Stagg is as much a grandee as Billo or Mary O’Rourke. A former Minister, he is the Labour Chief Whip, after all.
What’s grimly amusing about it all is that this new alignment – of FF and FG on the one side and Labour and SF on the other – is pretty much what was recommended by many people, especially those on the left, after the last election and it might well reflect the views of the electorate much better than the arrangements that are now in place.
However, Fianna Fáil was a truly toxic brand at that time and the view was widely held that the party needed a long time in the wilderness to purge its unique combination of incompetence and misdeed. Meanwhile, after a long time in the wilderness Labour wanted a taste of power and, in fairness, the capacity to put a brake on Fine Gael’s more hardline austerity – and anti-union – tendencies.
Maybe they have done precisely that. Maybe, had there been an actual coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, there would have been much deeper austerity: remember McSharry, dubbed Mac The Knife when he was Minister for Finance. Maybe Labour’s presence in Government actually saved the more vulnerable in society. It is likely that this is so, but we can’t ever really know fully, because it’s really hard to measure prevention...
And we can’t ignore what was lost as well as what was saved. There was an historic opportunity for Labour to become the principal opposition party. Also lost was the chance to make Fianna Fáil pay on the double. As the smaller coalition partner it would have suffered the same shrinkage as is now Labour’s lot.
Well, if and what and what and if – choices were made and now we’re here, wherever that is. The Government has reached the halfway stage and thoughts are turning to March 2016.
Let’s face it, in a country that is so outwardlooking and connected to cutting edge technologies and ideas, it’s paradoxical that electors consistently vote in so may representatives from two parties that are so similar and think the same way, in so many respects. We’ve sorta been conned. Everyone thought they had a choice when really it was just a question of alternate personalities.
Well, the first step towards great change is to imagine it. It seems we’ve started. But let’s not stop now. Better by far to persist, letting our imaginations fly for a while. Amazing things might follow...