Frances Fitzgerald: ‘Fine Gael has nothing to apologise for’

Have you heard the stampede back towards the political centre ground since the general election? Chastened politicians, mostly from Fine Gael, have begun extolling the importance of society over the economy and the need to maintain the centre from the fringes.

A hung Dáil, a minority Government and an unprecedented number of Independent TDs have made those in Fianna Fáil and Labour, as well as Fine Gael, talk of protecting the centre.

Recent polls show the public may be in agreement, with support for Independents falling.

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice & Equality Frances Fitzgerald shares such a view, but is careful not to offend her Independent partners in Government.

“Of course we have had one or two polls, but I don’t want to cast any aspersions on Independent colleagues in Cabinet or Independents. But my own view is that it is very important for the centre to reclaim ground,” Fitzgerald tells The Irish Times.

As the Dáil rises for the summer, with the minority Fine Gael-led Government in office less than three months, the Tánaiste says the current arrangements have yet to fully bed in.

Core breach

The breaking of collective Cabinet responsibility on Mick Wallace’s fatal foetal abnormalities Bill was a major wobble.

While Fitzgerald says she has sympathy for such views on abortion rights, it does not extend to breaching one of the “core” principles of government.

“I wouldn’t like to see it happening again,” she says, acknowledging the party and the Independents should not have let the issue develop as it did. “Everyone has learned from it.”

On policy, the Tánaiste has more of a claim than some in Fine Gael to the centre. She was one of those uncomfortable with the party’s election pitch and argued for a greater emphasis on services and society, rather than the campaign’s dry economic message.

“If you are losing seats, it’s a poor election,” she says, while maintaining Fine Gael was not insensitive to the difficulties faced by many voters.

“From the core of government, it was probably an over- focus on the economic and perhaps not emphasising enough the social benefits. Jobs take you out of poverty.

“It is kind of understandable in terms of where we were as a government, and the short period we had to see the fruits.

“I think we have to go back to our roots,” Fitzgerald says. “It has to be managing the economy, but it has to be progressive social policy.

"I joined when Garret [FitzGerald] was leading. What was Fine Gael doing then? It was Europe; it was progressive; equality on women; inclusiveness; socially progressive; respectful of difference in the North; and pro-European."

Outside bet

Fitzgerald,

Leo Varadkar

and

Simon Coveney

are three presumed front-runners to succeed

Enda Kenny

when he steps aside as party leader.

She is an outside bet, for now. Deputies note that Varadkar is well ahead in terms of parliamentary party support.

Still, as the Conservative leadership contest in Britain recently showed, pre-assumed outcomes often count for little.

Varadkar is the darling of the backbenches, accessible and popular while Coveney is seen as earnest but distant.

However, support for the Minister for Social Protection thins as you ascend to the Cabinet table, with some believing that Varadkar puts himself first.

During recent rumblings about Kenny’s leadership, Varadkar said he would “love to lead my party. I have been dedicated to it since I was 17- or 18-years-old, but that is something you have to consider at the appropriate time when the vacancy arises”.

Fitzgerald says that’s not her style. She wasn’t even seen as a candidate until she moved to the Department of Justice after Alan Shatter’s downfall in 2014.

“I come from quite a different place on that because I never set out to be a politician. I got opportunities and became interested in social issues as a social worker,” she says.

“I’m not one of these young men or young women who woke up at age 10 and said: ‘I want to be taoiseach!’ I think it’s extraordinary that some people do, but they do.”

Ambitious excess

Does Frances Fitzgerald detect an excess of ambition from other quarters?

“Would I comment?” she asks, laughing. “No. Look, everyone is different. You do see people who say ‘I want to be leader’ and become leader.

“And then you see other people quite unexpectedly becoming leader. So it’s not a predictive science. I don’t rule it out, but, as I say, it’s not my style.”

Recent events once again brought Kenny’s leadership of Fine Gael to the fore, with suggestions that the Taoiseach should stand aside in the quiet period following the budget.

Fitzgerald, as one of Kenny’s loyal lieutenants, says she has no doubt the Taoiseach “has the best interests of the party at heart”.

She does, however, say a process to replace Kenny (he has said he will stand aside before the next election) needs to be managed correctly, and should happen at during a period of relative political calm.

“I’d respect his judgment to do that at the right time, whenever that is. I wouldn’t put a time frame on it, but I would say there is a process that needs to take place and that has to be done in the context of the developing government agenda and the time frame around government.

“You have to take account of where the Government is at in terms of stability and getting on with things and getting a budget, getting a first budget under our belt.”

Fitzgerald notes how many in the party have been badly hurt by leadership elections past.

“I think we should be mature enough to do this in a way that is respectful of everyone and does the best thing by the party and, more importantly than anything, by the country.”

One source of Kenny's recent troubles was his reappointment of James Reilly as deputy leader, a post many thought would go to Fitzgerald, in line with her appointment as Tánaiste.

“I knew it didn’t go with the Tánaiste’s job,” she says. When asked if she was surprised at the appointment, she carefully says that Dr Reilly is motivated to do the job.

Many in the party believe leadership could pass Fitzgerald by; others view the Tánaiste as a possible candidate for the presidency in two year’s time.

In line with her position on leadership, she is largely non- committal. She does not rule it out, but denies being coy.

Not coy

“It is about a personal style and it is genuinely where I come from. That is not to say I am not ambitious. It’s an approach to the issue that is very genuine. It is not coy. It is genuine. I’m going to get on with the job of Tánaiste and Justice.”

Yet, whatever position she is in, Fitzgerald believes Fine Gael needs to be more aggressive in defending itself.

“We need to be unapologetic about our own goals,” she says. “We have nothing to apologise for. We have saved the economy. We brought the country to a point where you can now invest, and that’s really important.”