In the chaos and aftermath, nine things have been on my mind since the election of “change” where nothing changed.
1. We are reaching political crisis levels.
But only because we cannot seem to replicate the status quo. We cannot build a Dáil majority through coalitions and deal making, so we are now at panic levels. This is a waste of our first opportunity in a generation to get the most sorely needed political reform of them all: Separating the executive of government from the legislative nature of the chambers of the Oireachtas. In our heads, there is no Government without a Dáil majority. This is a product of our political culture. Breaking with this idea may be the best thing to happen to the chambers since it was formed.
For decades, Government has controlled and dominated our parliament. In doing so, the Government has:
- Been allowed to lose the run of themselves.
- Stifled debate and oversight.
- Given us an executive incapable of being accountable to the Dáil.
- Facilitated the emergence of the EMC.
- Produced a generation of expendable and bored backbenchers.
- Locked opposition politicians out of any influence despite their mandate from voters.
To us, the Dáil is not the Dáil unless it is a neutered spectacle; Its votes a mere drama to rubber-stamp the pre-decisions of the top brass of cabinet, enforced by whips armed only with the threat of making the disobedient a political nobody in the political wilderness. This must stop. Lets take the opportunity to end it. Why not facilitate Fine Gael as the largest party to lead the Government in the absence of an alternative? If Kenny wants to abolish USC as promised, let him build a majority for it on the floor of Dáil Eireann. Let him talk to Fianna Fáil and/or Sinn Féin about it. If they refuse to play ball, it is on them. The record will reflect that. If Kenny is serious about reform of the 8th Amendment, let him go and talk with pro-choice parties with similar intentions. Let him talk to Sinn Féin, Soc Dems, AAA-PBP (basically everyone except Fianna Fáil and Matt McGrath).
If the opposition and smaller parties can build support for their own ideas and pass them with a legitimate majority, then why not? They were elected to legislate. Not to howl at the moon while one of the big boys had “their turn”. Is this idea any less desirable than a passive Dáil with a constant majority that allows the Taoiseach to feel like a king. This is not a perfect idea, and it is not original, but it is surely better than asking the electorate to vote for a second time. My strong suspicion is that the parties will not want to set this precedent, as it will come to haunt them when they are in a stronger position down the line. But is now not the perfect opportunity to strive for an inclusive Dáil that represents all of those given a mandate by the people last week?
2. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have more in common than the left of Labour has with Sinn Féin or even the Social Democrats.
There are probably more arguable differences between the Socialist Party and People Before Profit. The modern nuanced take by supporters is that Fine Gael is a more liberal party on social issues (which is fair and evidenced by votes in the last Dáil) while Fianna Fáil is closer to the centre on economic policy (also fair if you judge them by the rhetoric of their election campaign). But even this doesn't stack up in the long run when the leader of Fianna Fáil is a more liberal man than many re-elected Fine Gael backbenchers, and when a potential future leader of Fianna Fáil is more eager to downsize the state and gut public spending than many in the FG parliamentary party. The only reason these parties cannot get it together is down purely to their own arrogance and ego. That is the only thing that stops a Programme for Government. If a deal fails to materialise, it is because tribal nonsense takes precedence over the responsibility to form a stable government.
3. Regardless of party affiliation or who one voted for, the Greens having a presence – weak or strong – in Dáil Eireann is a good thing if you value the climate movement or are concerned about climate change.
Consistently breaking the hottest year on record seems to matter not in the heat of election seasons. One wonders if the entire cryosphere of the planet would have to melt away before it became a central issue in the General Election. The worst part of this is that it is not even ignorance. Ignorance, we could forgive. Yet the media and major parties accept the science – as do, likely, the majority of voters – it is just 20th on the list of Top 10 Priorities for campaigning. They are aware, just not concerned enough to take the hard steps. It is a miracle that out of this, we even have a comeback of sorts for the Green Party. We should welcome it and continue to welcome it until something is done. The system needs to be nagged. The Greens will nag until the issue is back on the agenda. It is what they do.
4. The Social Democrats had a good election.
The three leaders all traveled different journeys to their position now in national politics. Murphy and Donnelly were elected as Independents and Roisin Shorthall was elected as Labour. They have now all been re-endorsed (and handsomely so!) by their constituents as SocDems. This is the real start of their political project, the real work starts from here. To say that the Social Democrats is in its infancy is generous. It is only the embryo of a party. Founders, colours, and a logo. It is all growth from here. What happens from here is up to them. Having a joint leadership has done them no harm either. And why would it? I want to have it explained to me why the Social Democrats MUST have a single leader. Because the others do? Why would they want to be like them for the sake of it? The Social Democrats are in a position to emphasise their “team” over their individual leader in marked contrast to Fianna Fáil and Renua. I don't see why that is a bad thing unless in some distant future, they must draw straws to decide which of them becomes Taoiseach. If they are at that point, then clearly the co-leadership has done them no harm.
5. I hope this is the last time I have to really think about Renua.
As a socialist and a republican, Renua's ideology was the characterisation of everything I viscerally dislike. If the SocDem's election campaign was an endorsement of the new roles of the founding members, then Renua's was the opposite. The voters who elected Creighton, Timmons and Flanaghan as Fine Gael TD's decided not to endorse them as Renua TD's. This should be the end of the matter. Renua appeared to consciously shift themselves to the right – losing sight of both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil until running off the political pitch all together. Their rhetoric on tax, spending, law and order was similar to that of US Republicans at their worst. The difference being that a gap largely exists for the GOP in the USA. No such gap exists here. From inside the Law Library or Dáil Eireann, even an intelligent young person like Lucinda Creighton can become out of touch and disconnected from the reality of life in modern Ireland – this was reflected in her political project. Creighton has trouble escaping herself. She evolved (like we all did) on marriage equality during the referendum. But we never lost the image of her as a conservative's conservative. This campaign - which should have been Renua's breakthrough against a stumbling, bumbling Fine Gael - did little to dispel the notion of her being too right wing for Irish politics. Three Renua seats lost. Or to quote their crime policy: Three strikes and you're out.
6. Speaking of political consolidation, AAA-PBP are among the winners.
Together, they fought a harmonious campaign and are now more or less the same size as the Labour Party in Dáil Eireann - Thirty years after Joe Higgins was expelled from that same party, formed Militant Labour and planted the roots of the modern AAA. This is vindication for a half decade of campaigning and fighting on behalf of causes and constituents. There is no group as small which makes as much noise. AAA-PBP are purists. This brings them in for a lot of criticism from other parties and those in the media (One can be too principled apparently!). But as we see from Bernie Sanders in America, it is not about winning: It is about making the weather; changing the political dialogue in a more progressive direction and mobilising and organising people on behalf of change. What has to change – and is likely a huge necessity in light of a FFG alliance – is the relationship between all the left-wing groups. The left in the Republic of Ireland has never been bigger. But it is a broad spectrum of colours and people, policies and traditions. Left-Republicans, social democrats, democratic socialists, ecologists, feminists, youth activists, independent leftists. We do not need to sing off the same hymn sheet going forward on all issues. That would be ridiculous. But the 32nd Dáil needs to see better relations and respect on all sides if we want to build an alternative to FFG. If this can be done in other countries with longer histories and more nuanced political scenes, then we can achieve this in progressive Irish politics.
The price is quite high: A generation of dominance by FFG.
7. The Media and Twitterverse need to give over bashing the Healy-Raes.
First of all, it plays exactly into their hands. We all sound like the Donnybrook set waving our finger at Killarney and Kilgarvan and Killorglin. Secondly, the people of Kerry have the democratic right to elect whoever it is they wish. And what is so unbelievably maddening about who they have chosen? The Healy-Raes are obsessed with public service and that is reflected in their vote. They work hard for their constituents and they've secured funding for a part of the country which traditionally had been neglected. There is a distinct lack of focus on the national picture, but is any person giving their number one in Dingle and Tralee in any doubt about that? Michael and Danny are commuting up to Dublin to get as big of a piece of the pie for Kerry as they can manage, at any cost. That's basically why they've been elected. Criticising them or Kerry voters for not voting as we would like them to is begrudgery and elitism. It also misses the bigger picture. The Healy Raes are a product of capitalism. In our economic system, we make individuals compete with each other and degrade themselves for the crumbs of available resources. The Healy Raes embrace that. Kerry must compete with Clare, Mayo, Limerick County, rural Galway, Sligo, Roscommon, and West Cork for the meagre investment coming from central government. They have a TD (now two) who do that exceptionally well, while degrading their reputations. The investments for Kerry won by Jackie Healy Rae from Bertie Ahern has us questioning “gombeen politics”, when it should be asked why it takes holding a Government to ransom to get these roads and schools and hospitals built in the first place. Fine Gael and Labour candidates in my area circulated leaflets with a litany of investments they were responsible for. All big sums of tax payer funded investment. All in the Carlow-Kilkenny area. All done for the purpose of re-election. All to their supposed credit. Not a single finger wagged by the chattering classes. And why? Because the difference between that and gombeen politics is flat caps and better suits.
8. Shane Ross and his Independent Alliance was a big deal last Summer.
An alliance, not a party. Not a party. Did you hear us? Not a party. Just to clarify. Ross had positioned this non-party as being ready in a position where it would be able to support a Government in return for reform on a number of key measures to do with cronyism and political procedure. They were the least talked about group in the General Election coverage, and have not even figured into the post-election arithmetic of potential deals. This is despite having more seats than the Labour Party. Yet Enda is calling Michéal and Shane Ross is left to wonder if he'll ever get a call. It wasn't supposed to be this way at all. Ross and Company are not licked yet. They were always better Dáil performers than campaigners. This was evidenced from the last five years where his technical group figured very seldom during referenda and votes, but always found their way onto Six-One or the Oireachtas Report. There is no reason why this would not be the case in the new Dáil. However, it looks like they will be making those impacts from the opposition benches as FFG carve up the resources of the state, and embarrass themselves with political appointments and judgeships for supporters, failed candidates and nephews. #newpolitics
9. There is little celebration in the annihilation of the Labour Party when it means a FFG government. That is no win for progressive politics.
As the moderate left in Irish politics falls away during our drawn out European realignment, Labour must choose whether it wants to continue to be the liberal wing of an anti-worker, anti-union conservative party – or worse still, often their messenger and hatchet man – or whether they can radicalise to fit the needs and aspirations of their working class supporters. Standing still is irrelevancy for the Irish Labour Party. Making peace and opting for co-operation with the broader left (instead of hyperbolically demonising them) to achieve shared goals is a good start. A better start would be ruling out forever a coalition again with Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. The pressing dilemma is that that the left of their party slipped out the door at grass roots level budgets ago. Back when Gilmore was struggling his way through Foreign Affairs and Ruaírí Quinn was still at the “Sure give the Minister a chance” stage with the teachers unions. Former young, strong and left-wing Labour activists find themselves scattered among Sinn Féin, the SocDems, AAA-PBP and the Independent Groupings on many County Councils nationally. It is all well and good to get in the “new blood” and rebuild. Labour has been gushing pints of it for a while now. Their election pitch was essentially that Fine Gael were an evil party, and only Labour could truly keep them contained.
This fails for a raft of reasons. Anyone who truly believed Fine Gael were as bad as Labour claimed would never vote for the party that was running to re-elect them together. Anyone who was satisfied enough with Fine Gael to want the Labour Party to go into coalition with them again would likely cut out the middle man and vote for Fine Gael. It is also an appalling way to talk about the party that is running with Labour as part of a pact. Not to mention, damaging to the feelings of Fine Gael voters who could have given Labour a second preference. It is hard to be harsh on Joan Burton's result here. Much like Michéal Martin in 2011, the damage was likely done before they were appointed to save the day. But Burton is the wrong person to take the party forward for other reasons. Her aggressive and combative style in debates has burned bridges with those who she may now need to work with to move forward. Her credibility as the leader of a radical Labour Party is diminished by her central role in Austerity Ireland. She must move on for Labour to grow. And replacing her with Alan Kelly is not the answer either.
