Members should be given Declan Costello's 1965 "Just Society" document, which redefined the party, writes Elaine Byrne
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Fine Gael. The party turned 75 this week, or 85 last April, when the Cumann na nGaedheal period is included. Why has the party not made any statement acknowledging this milestone?
Fine Gael has been in power for 19 of those 75 years and was last elected to government in 1982, 26 long years ago. (The collapse of the Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition in 1994 ushered in the rainbow coalition without necessity for an election.)
Before the current drought, Fine Gael experienced two prolonged periods in opposition, 1932-1948 and 1957-1973. Frustrated by opposition, the 1967 chair of UCD Fine Gael wrote a defining article in Hibernia magazine entitled "Fine Gael: the dilemma and the political".
"The Government is not giving leadership. Our community is devoid of a sense of purpose and has been drifting from crisis to crisis with neither foresight nor hindsight. There is clearly a prima facie case for change of government. But change to what? Fine Gael is stagnant - is a poor opposition and at the moment is not a credible alternative even to the weary, leaderless Fianna Fáil Government," wrote Vincent Browne, then 22.
Deja vu!
Fine Gael in the 1960s challenged the psychology of permanent opposition and engaged in a vigorous debate over policy renewal. Declan Costello's 1965 Towards A Just Society document redefined Fine Gael as a social democratic party and evoked a vision for Irish society: "There is an obligation on every political party who seeks power to tell the people how it will use it - a party which seeks power without any real idea of what it will do with it or who seeks office merely for its fruits, betrays the trust of the people."
Perhaps what was most remarkable in the 108-page document was the minimal reference to Fianna Fáil. This is the enduring Fine Gael dilemma.
Hours of congenial jollity were spent reading the 57 policy documents deposited by Fine Gael at the National Library. There is a trend. Initially, Fine Gael defined themselves by what they were. This developed into a definition of what they should be, then what they are not and finally what they think people might want them to be.
Test this out today. Corner a Fine Gaeler and ask for a definition of the party. Time how long it takes before the FF words are uttered. The query may be deflected on the grounds that Fine Gael is the only party that is ever asked this question. Anticipate this by replying that one catch-all party is enough, thank you very much.
If met by stony silence, then quote liberally from the 1993 Report of the Commission on the Renewal of Fine Gael (known as the Joyce Commission).
"There can be little doubt that Fine Gael is in a state of crisis . . . The party has become deeply internalised; it relates only to its own membership and, even then, very poorly . . . A statement of values and ethos, however worthy intellectually and morally, is of no enduring value unless translated into consistent policy statements which define a distinctive political position . . . In seeking to win support the party must not be fearful of losing support . . . The party must communicate what it is and, in order to do that, it must know what it is."
The report had 97 recommendations.
There is a view within Fine Gael that the 2002 electoral slide would have happened earlier but for the 1994 accidental government. Events took over and the report was buried. Frustration at the perceived stifling of internal debate led to Jim Mitchell's infamous comment on "democratic centralism" within the party.
Several leadership heaves and three party leaders later, this incisive report on Fine Gael's ethos, values and policy principles remains a forgotten footnote. In the meantime, another report!
The 2002 Report of the Strategy Review Group (the Flannery report) focused almost exclusively on party structures. These fundamental organisational changes gave Fine Gael unprecedented success at the 2004 local and European elections, the 2005 Meath by-election and the 2007 general election. The Flannery report advocated personality rather than policy-driven politics and suggested that: "In two years' time, what must be achieved is that when people on the street are asked what image do the words 'Fine Gael' summon up, they will mostly answer: 'They're really setting the pace; that Enda Kenny is doing a really good job; he has lots of good ideas; he sounds like he knows what the country needs.' "
Eh . . .
Where to, now? One seasoned Fine Gael TD believes that "Life is passing us by. We haven't been elected to government in a generation."
Fine Gael needs to give itself a birthday present. Send the membership a copy of the Just Society and the Joyce Commission documents and publish them on the party website. "Think" about these reports at next week's parliamentary party think-in. Organisational reform was the first step.
The next step: open Pandora's Box once and for all. Only then can Fine Gael tear up its mourning clothes and hang out its brightest colours.