Analysis: Independents playing both sides of political fence

The concerns of rural Ireland and a rebalancing of spending towards social programmes are the key inputs of Independent TDs into the programme for government, which was published this week.

But while Independent TDs insisted throughout the negotiations process that their focus was on national issues, they also secured commitments from Fine Gael to prioritise investment in their own constituencies alongside policy changes and initiatives.

Finian McGrath, now appointed Superjunior Minister with Responsibility for Disabilities, has long campaigned on the area, and argued in the negotiations for a suite of measures in the disability area. They were, he told negotiators, his “red lines”.

The programme as published contains general commitments on disability but also a raft of specific measures. They include: automatic medical cards for 10,000 children in receipt of the domiciliary care allowance; an increase in the disability benefit, carer’s benefit and blind person’s pension; and a 25 per cent increase in the numbers of speech and language therapists.

These promises sit beside more general commitments such as the promise to introduce individual personalised budgeting and to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

Cystic fibrosis unit

However, McGrath also insisted that investment specific to his constituency was included in the plan – a new emergency department for Beaumont Hospital and a new cystic fibrosis unit for the same location.

Sometimes the constituency commitments are unwritten but accepted by everyone. Shane Ross, now sitting at Cabinet as Minister for Transport, secured reforms in the appointment of judges and State boards. Since long before Ross became a TD he has campaigned against “cronyism” and “golden circles”, and has been critical of what he said was a cosy system of State appointments which looked after “insiders”.

However, there is another section of the programme which is of interest to Ross too. In the justice section there is to be a review of the closure of Garda stations. Ross has long campaigned against the closure of Stepaside Garda station – decided while his former constituency colleague Alan Shatter was minister for justice. Shatter stood over the closure, saying the nearest station, in Dundrum, was only a few miles away. Ross condemned it. Shatter lost his seat.

“As part of the review,” the document says, “we will launch a pilot scheme to reopen six Garda stations”.

There is not a person in Leinster House who doesn’t think that Stepaside will be one of the six Garda stations chosen as part of the pilot.

Grant process

All the Independents had their national issues, but also their local ones. Galway East TD Sean Canney mastered the complex procedures of EU infrastructural grant process and secured a commitment that the Government would resubmit applications for the EU to fund cross-Border transport links between the west and Northern Ireland. He also got commitments on the Western Rail Corridor.

Katherine Zappone, the Dublin South West TD appointed Minister for Children, won a commitment to develop “gender and equality proofing” of budget proposals. She also insisted the Government will seek to assist organisations which are in danger of losing funding through the winding down of the huge philanthropic fund Atlantic Philanthropies.

A €50 million fund will be put in place to assist such organisations. “We will fund and expand existing schemes such as the Area-Based Childhood Programme, which have been successfully developing innovative services and programmes for children in areas such as Ballymun, the north inner city and Tallaght West, ” the programme says.

Among those organisations in Tallaght West is An Cosan, founded by Zappone and her partner Ann Louise Gilligan.

But many of the concessions that Independents will win, on both national or local issues, will not appear in the programme for government. Ministers do favours for Ministers, and for friendly TDs. Tipperary TD Michael Lowry was one of the nine Independent votes that Enda Kenny won. He was nowhere near the talks on a programme for government. But last week, he told the Sunday Business Post that he had an "understanding" with Fine Gael. Sometimes that's how politics works.