& Eilis O’Hanlon,
Just when we’re getting in touch with our inner Eurosceptic, Sinn Fein rides to Europe’s rescue, says Eilis O’Hanlon
THE state of Irish politics right now is probably best summed up by the caption on a picture (see right) in Thursday’s Guardian: “Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, hangs an apple in front of a man wearing an Enda Kenny mask during a demonstration supporting the European Commission tax ruling.”
For there, indeed, was Adams, at a lunchtime protest in Kildare Street last week, grinning broadly in those modish sunglasses he’s taken to wearing, as he dangled an apple, from a string attached to a stick, in the face of a man who was pretending to be the Taoiseach.
And still the populist left wonders why it doesn’t get elected in sufficient numbers to form a government.
What, you mean the childish photo-ops aren’t convincing voters that you’re ready for serious decisionmaking? Fancy that. One can only imagine future generations asking Gerry: “What did you do to help during the great financial crisis?” Adams will be able to answer: “I dangled an apple in front of a man dressed up as the Taoiseach of the day.”
“Why did you do that, Gerry?” they’ll enquire. “What were you all thinking?” To which he would have to answer, respectively, that “It seemed like a good idea at the time” and “We weren’t”.
This is where we’re at now. Nearly a decade on from a crash that continues to exert a downward pull on Irish living standards, opposition politics has still not advanced further than street-corner bazaars. Credible policies, who needs them? We’ve got placards.
There’s a phrase for this sort of carry-on. It’s called “playing silly buggers”, and it has no more contribution to make to the serious business of how to respond to the European Commission ruling on Ireland’s corporate tax affairs than a man playing Give Peace A Chance on a tin whistle in Grafton Street has to solving the crisis in Syria.
On the contrary, it’s all about covering for the fact that Sinn Fein and the rest of the Irish left are all over the place when it comes to this issue. They still can’t even figure out if they’re for or against the EU.
“Recent governments have been totally deferential to the EU,” declared Sinn Fein’s election manifesto just six months ago. Suddenly, Sinn Fein decides that Ireland must accept everything that Europe says, without question, without appeal.
Surely an appeal couldn’t hurt? I mean, if the European Commission is right in what it says about Ireland’s deals with multinationals, then the courts will uphold its ruling, and Ireland has already promised to act accordingly.
No, insists Sinn Fein, you mustn’t even appeal it. Accept what Europe says without delay.
But wait, isn’t that a direct contradiction of those parts of the party’s manifesto that pledged to fight to “return powers to EU member states” and to reduce “the power of the European Commission” and to “uphold the right of democratically elected governments to decide their social and economic priorities in the interests of their own people”? Ssh, don’t rock the boat. Consistency is for small minds.
Sinn Fein and the other parties of the protesting left appear to decide if they’re for or against the EU on the basis of whether the EU is for or against the Irish government, but they’ve even got that arseways; because they seem to back the EU most strongly when it’s standing against Ireland, and condemn it most strongly when it’s backing Ireland. Surely it ought to be the other way around, lads?
Most of us do have it the right way around — we’re for the EU when it’s helping Ireland, and against it when it isn’t. That’s why there’s rising disillusionment with Europe right now, because, belatedly, the penny seems to have dropped that the EU does what’s best for the EU; our interests are not that important.
Of course, one might ask why that discontent didn’t come to a head after Europe landed the Irish with a bill for billions in a bank bailout that ought to have been Europe’s collective responsibility; but we were too terrified back then to fight, because there was literally no one else from whom to borrow money in sufficient quantities to keep the country afloat. Now it’s different. The recovery is far from guaranteed, but there is more confidence now that things are getting better. There’s hope, and hope means being able to imagine alternatives.
In the past, there was probably also a feeling that we didn’t want to be associated with the crassest, most aggressive elements of British Euroscepticism. A certain distaste persists. The reasons why the UK voted Leave were more complex than shuddering metropolitans concluded as they huddled together in shock, wondering what to tell the neighbours — but there has always been some jingoistic belligerence in Britain’s relationship with Europe that didn’t chime with Ireland’s experience or aspirations.
Irish Euroscepticism was always there; it could be seen in votes against various EU treaties, but politically it remained a preserve of the left. That mood is changing. Slowly, subtly, but the sands have shifted nonetheless. Now it’s not only the “whatever you’ve got, I’m against it” crowd of malcontents who are expressing disquiet with Europe, but mainstream politicians. This new Irish Euroscepticism is not about wanting to be top dog or asserting dominance over rival powers, in the manner of some of the Little Englanders who backed Brexit. It’s rooted more in a sense that Ireland is, in the words of the Taoiseach last week, “a small country that has played by the rules” but is failing to see the benefits of being so accommodating.
Even those enticed by the simplistic narrative that Ireland should just take Apple’s money and go on a spending spree, can see that there’s more going on in Europe than simply wanting its westernmost member state to have an early Christmas present. We’re in their sights. They’re determined to bring us into line.
Even before the Apple ruling, it was clear that Europe wasn’t minded to be sympathetic to Ireland’s need for its special relationship with Britain to be recognised and safeguarded in future talks over the terms of Brexit — though what reasons it could have for wanting to treat Ireland’s interests in this matter as the same as Hungary’s or Latvia’s defies explanation.
Any healthy federal system needs to respect the different relationships that exist inside it. Spain and Portugal have a relationship that predates the EU by centuries. It would be ridiculous to demand that they deal with us on exactly the same terms that they deal with one another. Nor would we ask or expect them to.
Yet from the moment Britain voted to exit the EU, Europe acted as if Ireland was just another interested party among many, when the truth is that the Irish/British axis is crucial to the country’s entire social and economic future.
Alarm bells were raised, because the EU could have decided to be sympathetic to Ireland’s unique predicament but instead, it knowingly, provocatively, spitefully chose not to be.
Centrist politicians are now making the most Eurosceptic noises they’ve ever made. It may come to nothing — there’s always the chance of another Project Fear down the line to keep the restless natives in check — but if the debacle over Apple has proved nothing else, it has at least confirmed beyond doubt that Sinn Fein and the left will never stand up to Europe’s bullying either.
Even as people were most disillusioned with the dictatorial remoteness of the EU, Adams and company decided this was the time to finally come out batting for Europe. They were more interested in pulling the rug out from under a current Government than in standing up for Ireland’s long-term interests. All that rousing stuff in the manifestos in February about returning power to small member states and clipping the wings of the EC was hot air.
Effectively, they’ve given the green light to the EU to tell the Irish people how they should manage their own affairs. That’s not independence, it’s simply replacing one colonial overlord with another.
‘Belatedly the penny has dropped that the EU only ever does what’s best for the EU’