This is what you get when you falsely promise a
democratic revolution. Three years ago, Enda Kenny looked the electorate in the
eye, struck that ham actor pose of his, and promised that he would usher in a
"democratic revolution". He and his government did no such thing.
Last Friday, the electorate declared that they won’t get fooled again.
Anybody who trawled the doorsteps with
candidates during the election campaign would have heard the issue of water
charges repeatedly being raised like a jack in the box. But this election was
about something more profound than that, or the property tax, or the universal
social charge. Many who reaped a golden harvest on Friday milked these issues,
but the extent of the collapse in Labour’s vote in particular hinted at a
deeper disillusionment.
In 2011, the electorate knew well that the old
politics was kaput. Feather bedding, approaching the European powers like
supplicants, putting party before country, vested interests before the common
good — everybody knew that these values had landed the country in the mire.
Fianna Fáil was punished, and Kenny said that
on the journey back he would beat a new, fairer path, where the moral
imperative of politics would be restored. The electorate responded by
delivering the biggest majority in the history of the State.
And what happened? The new Government took up
where the old one left off. The path to freedom set out by Fianna Fáil and the
poor misguided Greens was largely followed. That may well have been necessary
from an economic perspective, but the electorate was led to believe that a new
form of leadership would ensure fairness, at the very least.
Instead, it was a case of “as you were”, with a
few bells and whistles thrown in.
There has been precious little political reform
for one. Instead of driving real change, Kenny tried to ram through his
proposal to abolish the senate. This, he declared, is the essence of political
reform. Nobody was fooled.
Why didn’t Kenny and Gilmore take the high
moral ground from the outset? On taking office, all the cabinet effectively
doubled their parliamentary salaries at a time when the country was in
administration through the troika. What a gesture it would have been if they said
they were forgoing the ministerial element of their income for the lifetime of
this government? One campaign in the local elections that tells a lot is that
of Fine Gael’s Noel Rock, elected to Dublin city council for the Ballymun ward.
Rock ran a campaign based around his pledge to take no expenses in office. His
posters and leaflets referencing the pledge had no party logo. A voter not
fully engaged with politics might have taken him for an Independent, and a
sceptic might suggest he would have been delighted with any such mistake at a
time when the Independent brand was so hot.
Rock got elected on Saturday, while his two
party colleagues in the ward lost their seats.
It’s no coincidence that his pledge resonated
with the electorate. This Government has merely tinkered with the perks of
office and sense of entitlement. While many found their belts squeezed tight,
those who had prospered most in the bubble years continued to get the easier
ride.
The first two budgets delivered by this
Government contained measures that hit the most vulnerable — particularly
people with disabilities — in an effort to make savings where there would be
the minimum of political fallout.
Plans to elevate the common good were quietly
shelved. Under the current government, political considerations have been seen
to retain the same status as their predecessors.
This was particularly evident in recent months.
The whole business with Alan Shatter and his handling of the Garda controversies
was straight out of an old politics handbook. At all stages, it appeared that
the imperative for Kenny and his cabinet was not to hand the opposition a
political scalp, to keep their colleague in office, irrespective of how much he
was undermining confidence in government or the police.
The water changes fiasco was handled in a
cack-handed manner, largely in an attempt to alleviate any political fallout,
rather than act in the fairest manner.
Ditto with the medical cards. There is
certainly a case to review the numbers in receipt of medical cards. But instead
of discommoding sections of the self employed, the handiest thing was to go
after those who held discretionary cards, invariably adults and children with
serious medical conditions. Again, it was as if they believed they could get
away with that with the least fuss.
Supplicant attitudes to Europe have gone
unchecked in the last three years. In this regard, the poll-topping performance
of Luke “Ming” Flanagan was notable. One of his main election platforms was the
requirement for a whole new approach to Europe, in which the citizens’ concerns
are elevated above those of banks or the institutions of Europe itself.
Ming’s election was a direct response to Eamon
Gilmore’s pledge that it would be “Frankfurt’s way or Labour’s way”. The people
of Midlands North West have said it will be “Ming’s way”.
The Labour Party has been crushed in maw of the
big lie of democratic revolution.
Right across the State, its councillors and
MEPs have paid the price. Labour’s mayors in Cork and Dublin have both been
given the bum’s rush. For the first time, it looks like the state will have no
Labour MEP.
By comparison, Fine Gael got off lightly, but
their core voters didn’t believe all that stuff about democratic revolutions.
They accepted that deep pain would have to be endured, and they were prepared
for that, often because they knew others would be feeling the brunt of it.
Sinn Féin are high on the hog now. Many of
their candidates were barely known, but it was the party brand that saw them
home. Who had ever heard of Liadh Ní Riada or Lynn Boylan prior to the current
campaigns? Both are now among just 11 MEPs representing this country in Europe.
Paul Donnelly is another man who has come from
nowhere. He was the Sinn Féin candidate in the Dublin West by-election who
wasn’t given a chance. He topped the poll on the first count. However, another
matter also emerged from his success.
His first preference vote 6,056 was 79 votes
ahead of the hot favourite Ruth Coppinger, but by the seventh count Coppinger
had surged into a lead of 1,800 votes.
While Sinn Féin have had a great day in the
sun, there is still huge resistance among those who don’t vote No 1 for the
candidates to transfer further down the ballot paper.
You’re either with them or against them. And
that is what might make the coming years politically interesting. The Shinners
now have a chance, at local level, to put their policies and values into
action. How they get on will be closely watched, and will have a major bearing
on the next general election.
By Michael Clifford
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