Áras race proved we respect politicians who ‘pay their dues’
THE dust has settled on what has been regarded as one of the most lacklustre national elections of recent times. From day one, the outcome was never in doubt and, as the weeks passed, incumbent President Michael D Higgins showed how his years of political experience were a distinct advantage over the rest of the contenders.
His contributions were measured while, at the same time, he showed how he could defend himself against various allegations thrown at him.
The rest of the field, to varying degrees, misread the mood of the majority of voters. Peter Casey, more by fluke than by design, tapped into disaffection of a sizeable number of the public. The rest of the candidates, try as they might, failed to make a dent on Michael D’s lofty polling numbers.
I’ve long been of the view that someone who aspires to national politics should always start at the bottom. I am convinced that the ups and downs of political life can only be properly learned by being involved in the daily hand-to-hand warfare that epitomises modern day Irish politics.
Over the years, and indeed, in recent times, I have been asked for advice by various people as to how they could become a TD. I’ve always emphasised the need for such aspirants to become involved in local issues, community groups and associations.
By starting at the bottom, they then, in my view, get a great grounding for a possible future in national politics.
By doing it this way, they can then hope to be nominated for local elections. There is no better immersion in Irish politics than representing your local community at local authority level.
Political history in Ireland shows that the vast majority of successful political careers started out in the local authority chambers across the country. Of course, this is not universal.
MANY successful politicians never stood in their local council chamber but, generally, dealing with the mundane day-to-day issues affecting ordinary people is an extremely useful experience which will tend to stay with that person as they move up the political ladder.
I myself started out as a somewhat reluctant politician. In my early 20s, as a newly qualified solicitor returning from college to my hometown, I became actively involved in the local community council in the fight for better sports facilities in my immediate area.
I ended up chairing large public meetings designed to lobby the local council and councillors to heed our call.
I was subsequently approached by local Fianna Fáil figures to stand for the party in the 1979 local election. To my surprise, I was elected at my first attempt and stayed on the council until 1991, when I was required to resign my seat, having been appointed as government chief whip by then Taoiseach Charlie Haughey.
Those years on the Council stayed with me no matter what hallowed political halls I subsequently visited, whether it was in Capitol Hill and the White House, the UN General Assembly, or the EU in Brussels.
I believe that the political grounding that I received at local authority level tended to keep my ‘political feet’ firmly on the ground.
Which brings me back to the recent Presidential election. For me, the contenders showed a naivety in many of their public pronouncements. And the positions that they often adopted only tended to emphasise the experience and professionalism of the incumbent, Michael D Higgins.
He was able to adopt a similarly aloof stance which stood him in good stead in the 2011 Presidential election. He only became involved when it suited him. By doing this, it only further highlighted his long-honed political antennae.
Quite often, over the last number of years, we’ve heard the cry, ‘why can’t we have one of our leading business people such as, say, Michael O’Leary, run the country?’
Previous governments were often castigated by some commentators as being full of teachers and lawyers, who they alleged, had ‘never created one job in their lives!’ In the Presidential election, a number of candidates emphasised their business background credentials, but the listening public seemed to totally disregard this.
In the first few years of this decade, they might have got some traction with the voter by stressing this. However, the public, in more recent times, seem to have gone off the idea of having people with business backgrounds running our country.
It might very well be that they have been somewhat soured by the Trump experience in the US, and that they don’t want that type of ‘on the hoof’ policy-making replicated here.
The voters are discerning enough to realise that there is a lot more to running a country than treating it like a profit and loss ledger. I’m particularly sorry for candidates such as Adi Roche, Mary Davis, and more recently, Joan Freeman, all of whom experienced very difficult Presidential election campaigns.
They were high achievers in their own right in various important aspects of Irish life, and yet, it seemed as if they were not taken seriously.
Each of them had a disenchanting experience in different Presidential elections. While business people by their nature may be more able to take the rough with the smooth, Roche, Davis and Freeman are examples of how someone without a political background will always tend to struggle to make their mark in Irish political life, without doing the hard slog of starting at the bottom.