Fianna Fail / Fine Gael Collation ???
Fianna Fail put party before people in refusing Kenny’s grand gesture
THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A LABOUR PARTY /CONSERVATIVE COALITION IN UK
FF/FG Collation ?? Enda will do anything to stay in power !!
the sunday times - conor brady
Fianna Fail may yet rue the day it rejected the offer of partnership government. Just as the party had begun to shed some of the toxicity it brought to its reputation in the near-destruction of the economy, Fianna Fail reverted to type last week, yet again seeking to put sectional, party advantage ahead of the country’s best interests. Attempts to clothe that choice in weasel language about its pledge to the people, and preserving democratic diversity, were risible and transparent.
Influential figures, not all of them elected representatives, have been canvassing the argument that all that the party needs to bring it back to top-dog status is one more election. The calculation is that any minority government will not last long. It can be taken out at any point that offers an electoral opportunity. This line of reasoning says that, when the people are asked to vote again, the tide will flow in Fianna Fail’s favour.
These people may be overestimating the party’s rehabilitation in the popular mind. This tactic could also cost the country dear in political instability in the short to medium term.
Notwithstanding last Thursday’s rejection of Fine Gael’s offer, it now appears possible the two parties may come together in some form. An initial refusal is sometimes the necessary prelude to an ultimately successful courtship. Perhaps, some suggest quietly, if Enda Kenny were to step down, Micheál Martin might be more amenable to doing a deal with a new Fine Gael leader. Kenny has proven himself the bigger man in offering partnership to Martin. He is not so wedded to continuing in leadership that he would allow his ego to stand in the way of what he believes is right. Yet Fianna Fail has so painted itself into a corner that even such a gesture might change little.
Kenny took Fine Gael to the higher ground with an offer that was at once politically pragmatic and generous. He suggested equality in a shared government, despite Fine Gael being stronger than Fianna Fail in the Dail.
This clever initiative would have had more purchase had it come sooner. The performance of the political establishment in general over the past six weeks, posturing and protesting in defiance of mathematically clear realities, has served only to lower its standing in the popular estimation. Most people, if they are fortunate enough to be in employment, cannot choose whether to do any work. A teacher who failed to turn up for class, or a nurse who did not appear on the wards for six weeks, would find themselves looking at a payslip displaying a lot of noughts.
About €1.6m — a TD’s basic salary is €87,000 a year — has been paid to our politicians since the election, with no work done in return. Taxes are collected and the routine of administration continues. Yet the decision making functions of government, at a time when so many urgent issues present themselves for attention, have been effectively suspended.
This dilatory approach to restarting the policy engines, switched off since the 31st Dail went into recess, might be less serious if normal conditions applied in the state. They don’t. The economy is still in recovery from the most serious crisis since independence. Youth unemployment remains over 20%. Key public services are creaking and functioning suboptimally as a result of personnel cuts, budget reductions, and battered staff morale. We are faced with significant external issues. We need a strong government that can tackle these challenges with urgency and energy.
Framing a budget for 2017 within the stability parameters set down by the EU is going to be extremely difficult. The predictable overrun in health spending, plus the partial restoration of pay cuts across the public service, will absorb much of the cash available to the finance minister, even before any account is taken of fresh pay demands that will emerge over coming months. The housing crisis rolls on, without any remedial action other than renting further hotel accommodation for displaced families. The hospitals’ admission system is permanently overwhelmed. A thin line of gardai is redeployed from one task to another. Schools are facing a new academic year with the prospect of teachers’ strikes. The biggest disruption to the state’s exporting and trading business since the economic war is threatened with the UK’s probable exit from the European Union.
We are still coping with the fallout from the failure of political leadership that cost us our economic sovereignty. We are a badly run little country, incapable of discharging many simple administrative tasks. A strong, stable government, with objectives agreed in the national interest and proofed against threats of collapse or sabotage, is what is needed, not a shaky, temporary arrangement.
The electorate has shown a tentative willingness to forgive Fianna Fail’s past recklessness and arrogance. It will know where to place responsibility if we now descend into political instability and a loss of momentum in economic recovery. The party’s stubbornness will contrast with Fine Gael’s willingness to make a grand gesture.
It is six weeks since the people went to the polls, nine weeks since the dissolution of the 31st Dail, and four months since the Christmas recess, when governance of the state was put on hold. We don’t need just a government. We need a more effective one than those that have gone before. The events of the next few days will show if statesmanship can triumph rather than political hucksterism
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