Micheál’s bold scheme to put both SF and FG in their place
IT takes nearly two years for a pair of elephants to reproduce, so we should not be too surprised that Fianna Fáilers want a couple of months to work out their future with Fine Gael. It may take Micheál Martin as long as eight weeks to come up with a schedule to reform the Dáil and deliver proposals for a programme for government.
Whether or not he sells those plans to other parties, they will be the nucleus of Fianna Fáil’s manifesto if there is another general election.
The leader is staking his future on radical changes to his party, to Irish politics and how the Oireachtas does its business.
As far as I understand his pitch, Martin wants a rebranded Fianna Fáil returned to its traditional base close to working people.
For more than a year, he has maintained that Fianna Fáil must regain its reputation as the champion of the working folk, particularly in urban Ireland.
His swing to the left matches the exit poll in the general election, in which voters said they were more interested in improving public services than tax cuts.
It will also challenge the Sinn Féin gallop to try and fill the space left by the alarmingly shrunken Labour Party.
And in a society traditionally suspicious of far-left politics be sure that Fianna Fáil will portray the Sinn Féin party as the Syriza of Ireland.
Sinn Féin will not want Irish voters reminded of the party’s political holiday romance with the Greek party that ignored Sinn Féin’s advice and buckled to the EU’s demands.
Voter disillusion with the established political parties kick-started a reform of the Dáil – and Martin would like to present his proposals for the parliament along with a programme for government.
Both plans will first be agreed internally by the party and then made available to the Independent TDs and the other parties before any talks about forming, a future government.
Can Martin and Fianna Fáil ignore the chorus of opposition parties and the clamour of the media demanding they knuckle down and do their duty as a junior member of a grand coalition?
Yes they can: Fianna Fáilers are anathema to kow-towing to Fine Gael, particularly after an election that Fine Gael lost.
The prospects of getting a majority of members to agree at a special Ard Fheis to coalesce with Fine Gael are remote, according to party veterans.
Still, Micheál Martin is present-
ing himself as the Oireachtas kingmaker, even when his party has wound up with fewer seats than Fine Gael.
And, of course, there are members in each of the two major parties that see nothing of worth in their rivals.
The disparities between the Civil War parties are not so much to do with ideological as cultural differences, that have been aggravated by history.
Will Martin’s plan suggest a minority government led by Fianna Fáil – or some novel form of political coupling inspired by experimental animal husbandry?
He’s certainly spending a lot of time prognosticating as potential crises loom.
The threat of public sector industrial unrest and a fears of a possible Brexit in June have spurred the media’s and leftist parties’ demands for a shotgun coupling with Fine Gael.
However, Fine Gael may be further shaken by future revelations about the Department of Finance’s role – or absence of a role – in Nama’s Northern loans.
And when they can no longer control the flow of information, Fine Gael may appear to be less wholesome than their marketing team see them.
We have been promised new politics and so far seen opportunism, hypocrisy and cynicism in response to the election; we deserve better.