TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny is to deliver a “state of the nation” address on television shortly under the terms set out in section 122 of the Broadcasting Act 2009.
The legislation empowers Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte, to direct a TV station “to allocate broadcasting time for announcements for and on behalf of any Minister of the Government, in the event of a major emergency”.
The economic crisis and the loss of sovereignty over fiscal matters certainly qualifies as “a major emergency”, although senior politicians have refrained from using that particular term.
As of yesterday afternoon, RTÉ had not received any approach from the Minister about the Taoiseach’s proposed broadcast. No period of notice is specified in the Act, but an RTÉ spokesman said the station would be able to comply “quickly enough” with a ministerial directive.
TV3 has not been approached to carry the address but had “initiated its own contacts” with the Department of the Taoiseach on the matter.
“Throughout the course of several discussions, TV3 has made it known that it feels it is important that the national independent TV station should broadcast any such address given the current state of the economy. Precise details about the broadcast have yet to be finalised,” a TV3 spokeswoman said.
A Government spokesman declined to make any comment on the matter. However, The Irish Times confirmed with normally reliable sources that the proposed address will go ahead.
Different times have been mentioned for delivery of the speech, including this Thursday or Friday, perhaps after the Nine O’Clock News, or perhaps after the budget, which will be announced over two days next Monday and Tuesday.
There appears to have been little in the way of preparation for the address at this stage. However, it is generally expected that economic matters will be the primary focus of Kenny’s address.
The plan originally surfaced on November 2nd last at a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party in the immediate aftermath of the presidential election.
One source who was at the meeting quoted the Taoiseach as saying “there must be a clear explanation to the people what our strategy is, and the importance of the European project”.
Reference was made from the floor to an article by the Taoiseach that had appeared that morning on the Opinion page of The Irish Times, and he was encouraged to put a similar message across in the broadcast media.
In his article, the Taoiseach wrote that “the public finances and unemployment have stabilised and deposits are now returning to Irish banks.
“While we have a long way to go, we have made a decent start and are now on the right track.
“Our ambition is to be the first euro zone country to restore market confidence and emerge successfully from a bailout.”
The Taoiseach’s speech will be only the sixth television address of its kind by an Irish head of government. Two such broadcasts were delivered by Jack Lynch at the outbreak of the Troubles. One was also delivered by Charles J Haughey and two by Dr Garret FitzGerald.
It was in the course of an address on August 13th, 1969, that Lynch famously said the government could “no longer stand by” (often misquoted as “stand idly by”) in the face of the growing violence in the North.
In terms of subject matter, Kenny’s speech will be closer to the address on the economy given by Haughey on January 9th, 1980, where the newly elected taoiseach told his audience “we are living away beyond our means”.
However, Haughey was subsequently criticised for failing to put his own message into practice, a precedent Kenny will hardly be seeking to follow.
Indeed, he may well repeat the sentiments expressed in the text of his own speech at a Fine Gael function last Saturday night, when he said: “The strong mandate we have received from the Irish people is one that I and my colleagues in Government exercise with great seriousness.”