Forget new politic sit’s still very much business as usual in Leinster House

WELL so much for the ‘new politics’ we all heard so much about when Fianna Fáil agreed to back the Fine Gael minority government. If we can take anything from the omnishambles that unfolded in Leinster House over the last week it is that ‘Civil War’ politics is still, very much, in vogue.

Like the great Imperial powers who stumbled into war in 1914, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil accidentally found themselves at the electoral cliff ’s edge last week.

Neither party wanted an election but thanks to their posturing – and the turkeys voting for Christmas attitude adopted by backbenchers on both sides – both found themselves unable to pull back from the brink until Frances Fitzgerald, finally, fell on her sword on Tuesday.

Public cynicism about the ‘new politics’ has been borne out in the most spectacular fashion.

Far from a ‘new politics’, the conduct of many senior politicians hearkens back to the viciously partisan days of the 1980’s.

The behaviour of the 10 Fianna Fáil TD’s who cheered in the Dáil bar as the party’s Justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan delivered his ultimatum on the Six One News – of course this is denied – bore parallels with the aggressive FF loyalists of the Haughey era. That’s not to say that Fine Gael has covered itself in glory either. Whether or not Frances Fitzgerald deserved to be forced out of office is debatable. However, the revelations of the last week raise serious questions about the Government’s role in McCabe affair.

A key question, that was largely overlooked amidst the political furore, is how and why the Government and Department of Justice failed to reveal several vital documents relating to its involvement in and knowledge of the McCabe case?

As they rushed to defend the doomed Frances Fitzgerald, several senior Fine Gael figures insisted that the proper forum to debate the Fitzgerald/McCabe revelations is the Charleton Tribunal.

According to their circular logic, the body best equipped to investigate why certain information wasn’t revealed to a tribunal is the tribunal itself.

The waters were muddied even further by the additional tranche of emails that were released by the Department of Justice on Monday and which sealed Frances Fitzgerald’s political fate.

Even after Fitzgerald’s resignation these documents still give rise to a serious question. Given that the Government and Department of Justice say they have always co-operated fully with the Charleton Tribunal how on earth is it possible that these crucial documents only just come to light?

The documents contained information of such significance that they almost brought down a Government but they have only emerged last Friday. How can that be? Were they hidden, and if so by who?

Frances Fitzgerald has resigned and a snap election has been averted but that is far from the end of the issue. Serious questions remain and they must be answered.

The Taoiseach has promised an investigation and answers. He must stick to that pledge.