Leo Varadkar must learn to live with less media

THIS column is about three N-words that will decide the future of Irish democracy: necessity, nationalism and narcissism.

By necessity I mean the necessity of this Government prospering and permanently seeing off the threat posed by Sinn Fein, a political party linked to a private army.

Many of my readers will regard this as a harsh reading of a landscape with which they have long been familiar. But familiarity is the problem.

The German playwright Brecht says we can no longer clearly see what is familiar. We have to make it “strange” again, to see it with fresh eyes.

Let me start by making nationalism strange. Down the years I have been derided for repeatedly arguing that the “national question”, that is Northern Ireland in all its aspects, is the only game in town.

If I am wrong, then what force other than a diffuse nationalism is driving the dissidents in Fianna Fail and the Greens?

In Fianna Fail, the poison of the ultra-nationalist hawk faction, first created by Charles Haughey, has never gone away.

That poison will finish off Fianna Fail — when the dissidents get their death wish: a deal with Sinn Fein.

Likewise, the Green dissidents have no major environmental issue in common but are driven by a psychological desire to be part of the empty “change” mantra of Sinn Fein. In proof of which, would you be surprised if Neasa Hourigan ended up in Sinn Fein?

In short, the destructive forces destroying this Government cannot be completely divorced from the national question.

RTE is repeating its role during the Haughey period when it rooted for a politician who many in Fianna Fail privately felt was profoundly flawed.

So it was with a sense of deja vu I saw post-election RTE determined to bully Micheal Martin into a deal with Sinn Fein.

He is still being hounded for not doing so, notably on RTE.

RTE has always turned a hard face to pluralist politicians and a soft face to tribal ones. This reflects the entitled extremism of the college class from which it draws its staff.

Back to Brecht. Most of those who work in our media grew up with Sinn Fein after the IRA had stopped killing.

Hence they can no longer see what is lethal about an ultra-nationalist party which makes apologias for political violence.

This soft stance contrasts sharply with their colleagues in Poland and Hungary.

In these countries journalists lay their careers on the line to stand up to ultra-nationalist parties who depict a minority as outsiders.

In contrast, most journalists in Ireland fail to call out Sinn Fein, an ultra-nationalist party which depicts the Protestant minority on the island as outsiders.

We dearly need a dramatist like Brecht or

Sean O’Casey to help see how strange it is to have national media which is softer on Sinn Fein than on Fine Gael or Fianna Fail.

The media’s excessive hostility to Taoiseach

Micheal Martin’s new centreleft Government argues an agenda — coverage of the Barry Cowen affair was totally over the top.

True, Fianna Fail has given a few hostages to fortune. But at least we can see the disciplinary damage done by the dissident whiners in that party.

Far, far more lethal in the long term is Leo Varadkar’s tepid support for the new Taoiseach — which brings me to my final N word: narcissism.

To call someone a political narcissist is not a vulgar term of abuse but a clinical description of the political personality trait we can see in Trump — a constant desire for public attention.

Leo Varadkar is also a political narcissist. Even

Fine Gael supporters cringe at his passion for publicity.

The first part of the word narcissism is narc, as in narcotic. As a former RTE producer I saw it act like heroin on certain politicians.

Leo Varadkar is hooked on being centre stage and is not giving Micheal Martin the political space he deserves and Irish democracy needs.

Varadkar’s green list stunt was a gormless grab for publicity. So was publicly ticking off the teachers when Martin’s patient background work was getting results.

‘No dog barked when FF and FG came together easily’

History will not be kind to Varadkar if he lacks the vision to see that, whatever about the Greens, the failure of the Fine Gael-Fianna Fail partnership might be the last gasp of Irish democracy.

Because I’ve been around a long time, and have seen a lot, I am focused on the fragility of democracy at home and abroad.

Despite deceptive appearances, no country in Europe is more at risk than Ireland from tribal forces with the terrible potential to tear our society asunder.

Back to my first N word, necessity. Dire necessity dictates that partnership of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael must flourish and become a fixture of Irish politics.

Brecht again. We are already so familiar with the new partnership of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael we cannot see how strangely easy it was in the end. No dog barked in the night.

In strictly Irish terms, however, the new coalition between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael is actually a big deal, and it would be silly to deny it.

Although the Treaty split was on a fairly academic point, it has never been fair to say that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were basically two wings of the same party.

The fault line between both parties was and is subtle, but, that said it did reflect important intellectual and class cleavages in the independent state.

FG has always tilted more towards a low-tax, free-trade approach to money which initially favoured the strong farmers and ranchers who dominated the economy until relatively recently.

FF, on the other hand, was created to rebalance the economy away from the ranchers in favour of small farmers, and urban workers, or what they originally called muintir na haite.

But if we take a broader European view, we can see that the agreement between the two Civil War parties really just brings Ireland into the European mainstream.

Many other countries effectively force opposing parties to work together, and have done so for decades. The French even have a word for it: cohabitation.

In Germany, rival parties working together is known as koalitionspolitik and a grand left-right coalition has marked all of Angela Merkel’s tenure.

But in Irish terms, the FG-FF partnership, strongly supported by rank and file members, is still a historical milestone.

Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that both parties have always shared certain fundamental values, especially in times of national crisis.

After Kevin O’Higgins was murdered in broad daylight in 1927 by IRA tearaways, De Valera took the plunge without holding back.

He accepted the oath to the British crown, entered the Dail, and worked the institutions of the Free

State alongside those TDs who signed the Treaty. In the crunch, De Valera had more in common with WT Cosgrave than with those who murdered his justice minister.

Leo Varadkar should return from recess to give Micheal Martin the same loyalty he will expect when their roles are reversed — so less lording on media.

By doing so he will gain the gratitude of the Irish people — because deep down most of us want this Government to work.