Public will give the framework a fair wind — if it sets sail soon

FOR a people who are obsessed with every petty oppression of the past, it’s strange what small attention has been paid to the historic coming together of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

Critics have concentrated on complaints about the framework document being pie in the sky — a complaint I shall return to presently.

What they ignore are the personal and psychological hurdles faced by the two parties born of Civil War — and, paradoxically, the opportunities opened up if they can clear them.

Because history shows a fruitful dynamic is often released when former political foes find themselves on the same side fighting a greater enemy.

This is the theme of

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s classic account, Team of Rivals, which recounts how Abraham Lincoln took the risk of bringing three men into the cabinet who had run against him for president. The result was a war cabinet that buried its differences to bury slavery and secession. Furthermore, the past provides small and big moments of civility. President De Valera blessed the Cosgrave-Corish coalition at a dinner in the Aras at its commencement in 1973. Certainly Bunreacht na hEireann said he had to appoint a cabinet but it did not oblige him to throw a dinner party!

Garret FitzGerald admitted to voting for Lemass in 1965, strongly defended Jack Lynch during the Arms Crisis — and remained a far more loyal defender than a rump of the Fianna Fail party which to this day hankers after a suicidal pact with Sinn Fein.

Lynch, in turn, let it be known he supported FitzGerald’s Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985. And in turn, John Bruton endorsed Bertie Ahern’s Good Friday Agreement.

Later still, Alan Dukes supported the Tallaght strategy, the forerunner of the confidence and supply deal. Recently Micheal Martin gave the Government full backing on Brexit.

But perhaps the most moving demonstration of goodwill was when Lemass adjourned the Dail in 1965 as a mark of respect on the death of WT Cosgrave.

To grasp the magnanimity of Lemass’s gesture, we must remember that during the Civil War, Cosgrave’s

Free State Government had effectively allowed Special Branch heavies from Oriel House to torture and murder Lemass’s brother Noel and dump his body in the Dublin mountains.

Here is a section of his generous eulogy which both parties should ponder:

“Although William T Cosgrave has left us, the work he has done for Ireland endures. The generosity of his youthful response to the call to serve Ireland; the privations and the sacrifices which he endured so that national freedom might be ours; the capacity he displayed in presiding over the administration while responsibility was his; the grace with which he handed over responsibility when the people so willed; the dignity with which he carried out his duties as leader of the opposition and later as a private member of this House; the generosity of spirit with which he leant his hand to the defence of the State in a time of national danger; the readiness with which, even in retirement from active public life, he gave of his counsel in the sphere of national development which was dear to him; and, finally, the exemplary character of his long life — these are the elements of a legacy which we in Ireland, and indeed those who value freedom and democracy everywhere, will forever cherish.”

Let me now return to the critics of the framework document (henceforth called Framework) and their complaint that it is too aspirational, and not costed.

They miss the point. The Framework was never meant to be a costed economic programme for government — nor does it pretend to be.

The Framework is that rare and much-missed thing in modern Irish politics — a visionary statement setting out a laudable aspiration to move away from the past towards a better society.

But there is nothing vague about its core which is a pledge of radical change. The document explicitly states there will be “no going back to the old way of doing things”.

In sum, the Framework is an open, organic and dynamic document designed to show the public that lessons were learned by the established parties last February and that they are agreed on a new ethos.

But there is also a practical dimension — the document creates spaces for dialogue with smaller parties — and gives them room to fill these spaces with their priority policies.

Anyone with any feel for the public pulse can sense most people wish this new ship of State well and want to give it a fair wind.

That is why the leaden response from Roisin Shortall on Sean O’Rourke last Wednesday was both deeply depressing — and politically suicidal.

Because in opposition the Social Democrats will be totally overshadowed by Sinn Fein who will be running more candidates next time around.

Furthermore, Labour’s Alan Kelly, who cursorily dismissed the Framework as “aspirational” (as if that were a bad thing), won’t be getting an early bounce at the polls or any reward at the next general election.

Eamon Ryan seems to be still trying to do the right thing for his party. Going into government is the Greens’ only option if they want to avoid a second general election this year.

The Greens have more to fear from a second general election than any other party. Their supporters are mostly idealistic middleground voters who crave stable government and responsible politicians.

If the Greens go into opposition, these voters will flee back into the arms of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

The Framework offers the Greens more than any other party: a “new green deal”

— a commitment to revisit carbon reduction targets, a pledge to look at economic recovery via a “green lens”.

But if they drag their heels much more, the Framework parties should take Noel Dempsey’s shrewd advice and form a Government from the ranks of the willing, and dare the smaller parties to cause a general election.

Because Dempsey has divined something those dug deeply into negotiations may be missing.

The public, always ahead of politicians and the media, senses that FF and FG make perfect dialectical partners.

By dialectical, I mean Majority Ireland senses that the fiscal prudence of Fine Gael and the public spending side of Fianna Fail will balance each other out and make them the perfect Team of Rivals.

*****

So far I have refrained from bothering you with reflections on how to improve yourself during self-isolation.

But I have to share a free podcast gem on Hamlet

— the play that says it all politically and personally.

It only takes 10 minutes at a time as it comes in short sessions, scene by scene.

To get it, download Spotify, search for The Hamlet Podcast by Conor Hanratty — a young Irish theatre and opera director.

Hanratty takes you through Hamlet by the hand, telling you the spine of each scene, acting it out and then going back over it in exciting close readings that for all their erudition are easy to follow.

If you’re starting on Shakespeare this is a must. If you think you know Hamlet, think again. Give it a go. After all, it’s famously full of quotations!

‘Noel Dempsey has divined something that politicians in negotiations may have missed’