Martin must show vision, or FF’s fate could be that of SDLP

The Fianna Fáil leader was never going to be charismatic or inspirational but he does not seem to have had a plan, writes

IN the week after we buried John Hume, a man who can claim the adjective ‘great’ without much controversy, Micheál Martin might be thinking about where he himself will be in the pantheon of Irish political leaders.

Being Taoiseach is a tougher job than being a campaigner for peace — not that Hume didn’t confront severe obstacles and threats with superhuman bravery and determination.

But Hume had one issue to which he could devote his energies. A Taoiseach faces challenges that he (some day there will be a she) does not choose. He might not want to face a health crisis. He might have had a different idea as to what he was going to achieve and what issues he was going to tackle. But taoisigh don’t get to pick.

Albert Reynolds managed to pick an issue, an IRA ceasefire, on which he would devote his energy and secure a legacy. But Reynolds also had to deal with the X Case on his first day in the job, an issue he was unprepared for and ill-suited to. It was his mishandling of these other ‘little’ things that saw him lose an election — and later his career.

After months of uncertainty, Micheál Martin’s elevation to Taoiseach was much welcomed and he entered the office with a lot of goodwill. He knew the Covid-19 response was going to be the main item on his agenda. Still, as honeymoons go, it was a wet weekend in Tramore.

Micheál Martin was never going to be a charismatic, inspirational leader. What we expected was competence and common sense. Instead, the first month was chaotic. Party infighting and jealousy about jobs is normal in political parties, but it is unusual that in a professional political organisation, as Fianna Fáil aspires to be, it could be played out so openly.

In choosing his ministers, Martin showed a degree of mettle and the hissy fits reflected worse on people within his party than on him.

No one has yet satisfactorily explained to me why Barry Cowen is no longer a minister, but that it got that far reflects badly on Martin. A taoiseach should not have to sack a minister after a couple of weeks. Martin might be excused by the fact that spontaneous chats in the corner with

TDs and ministers are not possible, making it harder to do the mundane task of party management.

In a revealing passage in Seamus Mallon’s memoirs, he observed that John Hume “disliked the routine business of politics, and felt encumbered by the need to report his plans and actions to the rest of us in the SDLP”. Those jobs of managing expectations still have to be done. Martin will get control of his party — there are no real threats to his leadership. He’s right not to be too concerned about minor controversies, they tend to blow over. It is the other parties he needs to worry about.

Martin can’t be held responsible for the problems within the Green Party. However, he’s been in enough coalition governments to know that certain issues are likely to cause trouble, and while Eamon Ryan might not be a difficult partner, Ryan might not be doing the Government many favours by being so reasonable.

If Ryan does not raise problems that his party will later have, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are left guessing what issue will be the one to lead to four or five Green TDs out of Government.

And Fine Gael’s problem for Martin is that the party is too professional.

Used to government, there is an element of continuity to the Fine Gael part of the Government. Paschal Donohoe still inspires confidence in Finance, Simon Coveney is still in charge on Brexit, and most troublingly for Martin, Varadkar behaves as if he is still Taoiseach.

When ministers gathered for a Cabinet meeting to decide on whether Phase Four of the Covid-19 response would go ahead, Varadkar as good as announced the decision that pubs would not be allowed to reopen to waiting reporters, in advance of the formal decision.

Martin might be in the Taoiseach’s office, but has no more power than Varadkar in the Government. In fact, he probably has less. If the Government were to collapse because the Greens go rogue, Fine Gael has little to fear. Varadkar will be confident that Fine Gael can only improve on its abysmal 2020 performance in any new election. And all the infighting in Fianna Fáil and the Greens only helps make Fine Gael look like the grown-up party.

Micheál Martin does not seem to have had a plan for Government. Certainly no one can pinpoint his ‘vision’, not even a slogan.

I was surprised that he didn’t have a big announcement immediately when he took over, for instance, to have made face masks mandatory. Instead, the Government gives the appearance of being run by Nphet.

Irish people seem to like that, but eventually Micheál Martin will have to assert some authority. He has very little time in the Taoiseach’s office to carve out some sort of vision that people can vote for when the next election comes.

John Hume’s success was what practically killed off the

SDLP. When Sinn Féin embraced non- violent politics, what was the SDLP for anymore?

The Good Friday Agreement brought Sinn Féin into ‘normal’ politics — but politics in Northern Ireland was never normal. It incentivised each community to vote for the extremes.

What is Fianna Fáil going to be for? By coalescing with Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil didn’t end the underlying divisions in Irish society, it just shifted them on to other parties.

Fine Gael still represents the centre-right, rule-of-law element. But where Fianna Fáil used to represent the working people, whose interest was in getting things done, even if a few rules were bent or broken, they are now more attracted to Sinn Féin.

By putting it in as the main opposition party, Micheál Martin has all but guaranteed that Sinn Féin will be one of the top two parties in the state.

Fianna Fáil’s future could be more like that of the SDLP. John Hume delivered something for the sacrifice. We could ask Martin, what was it for?

‘No one has yet satisfactorily explained to me why Barry Cowen is no longer a minister — but that it got that far reflects badly on Martin’

Eoin O’Malley is an associate professor in political science at the School of Law and Government, DCU