Harney’s quip on politics was a timely warning to FF and FG
MARY Harney, my good friend and former colleague in Cabinet, last week appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in her capacity as Chancellor of the University of Limerick. She was there to discuss the controversies regarding the university’s accounts.
Ms Harney chose the occasion to warn the current crop of deputies about the perilous nature of politics. She quipped that she saw plenty of new faces in only her second visit to Leinster House since she retired from politics in 2011.
She said: ‘I noticed, as people came in, I’d say the majority of the committee weren’t here when I was a deputy… and I’m not gone that long!’ She went on to warn those politicians present ‘about the recycling of deputies’.
Something that has struck me quite often since I left politics is that, after every election, there is a huge turnover of TDs. Some come and go very quickly. Others last a little longer. But as someone who spent nearly a quarter of a century in Leinster House, it seems to me that political careers are become shorter and shorter.
Haughey years
I’m often asked, in reference to the daily shenanigans we see on the news, if I’m glad I’m not in politics nowadays. I reply by saying that politics was always difficult, no matter what era. I lived through the Haughey years, for instance. You can’t get more turbulent political times than those!
But the advent of invasive social media has certainly put more pressure on people in political life today. Many cannot put up with the constant focus on their lives, and quite a few plan an early return to civilian life.
Looking across the ranks of TDs in the Dáil chamber, it strikes me that Mary Harney’s comments are very apt. At the next election, we will probably see one of the largest turnovers in personnel in modern political times.
And this turnover will take place, most likely, in the two main parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. That poses a huge problem for those parties in that they have to plan for their futures.
Our sister paper, the Irish Mail on Sunday, reported recently that Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar has apparently asked his deputies to let him know well in advance of the next election if any of them plan to step away from politics.
This followed the surprise decision by the high-profile Fine Gael TD for Donegal, Joe McHugh, not to contest the next election. Mr Varadkar complimented Mr McHugh for making his decision known early so that the party has time to plan for his replacement, and exhort any other deputies thinking along the same lines to declare their intentions sooner rather than later.
Any haemorrhaging of TDs will probably affect Fine Gael more than any other party. By the time the next election comes around in 2025, Fine Gael will have been in Government for 14 years in succession.
Take it from me, as someone who was in Government for a similarly long time, that is far too long! For any minister, 10 years is about the limit, in my opinion.
Quite recently, I spoke with a former minister who had never experienced being in government before taking office. He said he could never have envisaged just how ‘full on’ it was. And he was there for only a few short years. A long time in Government takes it out of people, no matter whether they’re ministers or backbenchers.
Same old faces
A newly minted Government minister tends to be full of ideas and vigour. But the longer they remain in office, especially after a few successful elections, the more the freshness wears off. They tend to become more ‘departmental’, rather than driving policy themselves. A lot of them lose their energy and drive. Added to that, voters begin to tire of the same old faces.
For party backbenchers, it’s way more demoralising. If TDs haven’t been promoted during a long period when their party is in government, there is very little likelihood that they will get the nod after that. They know there is no future.
Then there are former ministers treading water on the back benches. More than likely they will head for the hills before the next election. Fine Gael has plenty of those people among its ranks. Hence, Mr Varadkar’s call for early declarations.
For Fianna Fáil, while the party has been in and out of government over the past decade or so, in reality many people regard them as having been in the driving seat for ages.
Granted, during their recent time on the opposition benches, they rejuvenated their ranks with some new faces. But they too need newer, younger figures to come to the fore.
The next election will most likely come down to a battle between, on the one side, a coalition led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and on the other side, a coalition of the left, dominated by Sinn Féin.
Sinn Féin’s representatives have been having a field day attacking the incumbent Government. Since the last general election, many of the party’s new TDs – some of whom came out of nowhere – have become household names.
If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are to have any chance of remaining in pole position, they will both have a lot of weeding out to do, to freshen up their ranks and present the voters with a bright new facade.