Miriam Lord: Dr Reilly gives Fine Gael a repeat prescription

For all the highfalutin talk, one line from a warm-up speaker on Enda’s undercard explained what Fine Gael’s weekend was really about.

It came from deputy leader James Reilly. “The only way we can win this election is by telling our story – over and over and over again,” he declared, exhorting the troops to get out and spread The Message.

Saturday night’s keynote address was a crucial moment in the timeline of Kenny’s ambition. It wasn’t particularly inspiring. It wasn’t particularly interesting. In fact, there wasn’t much in it at all, apart from The Message, which, as Reilly signposted, must be repeated over and over and over again.

Enda wasn’t found wanting. He took out a sledgehammer and drove it home. “Let’s Keep the Recovery Going.”

The Taoiseach's final speech was engineered with one objective in mind: to sweep Fine Gael to the general election start line, steal a few yards on the opposition and then point its nose towards the finish.

True, there was some awful guff about who we want to be in the “continuum” of compassion which “will be the making of us as a people”.

But there wasn’t too much waffle as the handlers put Enda on a low-cheese diet.

And there was a lip trembler at the end when the Taoiseach came over all “humbled and touched”.

Backroom boys

The Fine Gael backroom boys and girls must know they’re on to a good thing with the recovery line. They’ve done their homework and it’s clearly resonating with the public. People can see things have picked up. Some of their kids have got jobs. Some might return from abroad.

What’s not to like? And Fine Gael has the plan to keep things moving forward. “Tonight, I say to all of you who are watching, if our plan sounds like a good plan, please support us,” pleaded the Taoiseach. Straight up, he asked for votes – “if the recovery matters”.

For half an hour, in the nicest possible way, he set out to put the frighteners on his television audience. “Do you want the recovery to continue? Or do you want to put it at risk? In the privacy of the ballot box, you choose, you decide. What do you want?”

As keynote addresses go, his speech was the silkiest threatening letter ever delivered at a party conference. The thrust of it was to cement the assertion that Fine Gael is responsible for the improvement in our economic fortunes. The party is blatantly taking the credit for it – except when thanking the people of Ireland for bringing it about.

“It’s your recovery,” the Taoiseach said. “The people and the new Government faced up to the crisis. Thanks to your hard work and resilience, we have gone from economic wreckage to economic recovery.”

Unfair and inequitable

Since when did “the people” have a choice in the matter? Some resisted but endured cuts they saw as unfair and inequitable. Now they’re getting praised for being willing participants in a joint enterprise.

That scene in The Snapper comes to mind, when Georgie Burgess takes advantage of Sharon Curley and she gets pregnant, with all the ensuring difficulties. "Good girl, Sharon!" says Georgie. "A1!"

Lots of low and middle-income people feel they were rightly screwed when the “adjustments” were divvied out. “Well done, lads!’ say Fine Gael. “A1!”

Sure we’re all in recovery now. The main Government party is feeling good about itself. Senior politicians and advisers have the economic figures to allow themselves that luxury. They feel they’ve earned a second shot at power, having steadied the ship of State, all they ask is to be allowed the opportunity to sail it properly.

But at the ardfheis, nobody wanted that mood to bubble over into something that might be interpreted as triumphalism or over-confidence. The country’s ills are far from sorted.

Subdued audiences

This led to more subdued audiences than might be expected, given that Fine Gael is heading into the general election in good shape.

“We’re not even contemplating an overall majority,” was the stock response from politicians when asked if this was a possibility.

Oh yes they are. They wouldn’t be human if they weren’t. And they’re working damn hard at giving it a go.

The Recovery Chorus will be worming its way into people’s brains in the coming weeks.

On Saturday afternoon, when MEP Mairead McGuinness hosted her usual onstage chat with selected ministers and TDs, every conversational road led to Recovery. Which, of course, led to the traditional Adoration of the Noonan, without whom the recovery would never have happened. He was on display as usual, centre-stage, in his tub chair.

Dublin South Central's Catherine Byrne would yield to no one in her admiration. "I believe Minister Michael Noonan has taken us by the scruff of our necks and dragged us through tick and tin in this country.

“And if there’s any one man I’ve met in politics that I completely devote myself to in public life, it’s the man in front.”

When the time came for Enda’s speech, the hall was boiling. With 10 minutes to go he was sweating like a hippo in a sauna, like everyone else.

He thanked the electorate for placing their trust in him. “Personally and politically, I have always tried to do my best for you and for our country . . . I am humbled and touched and deeply privileged to be your Taoiseach,” he croaked, clutching a hankie as his eyes misted over.

“Leaving the election aside,” he wished viewers “every success, every good health, every enjoyment and every good fortune.”

And how might that be achieved? He allowed the answer to hang, unspoken, in the sweltering air. There’ll be plenty of time for him to repeat it. Over, and over, and over again.