OPINION:Enough of Sarah Carey's anti-Fianna Fáil caricature! Our party's achievements are real and substantial
LAST THURSDAY'S column about Fianna Fáil by Sarah Carey ( Could FF do the right thing from the other side of the House?, December 9th, 2010) was remarkable on many levels, but most of all for how someone who claims to aspire to constructive commentary presented a reading of Irish political history which is both superficial and profoundly tribal.
It may be comforting for her and others to dwell in the self-righteous certainty that Fianna Fáil is and always has been the source of every problem faced by our country, but it is an approach which has nothing credible to offer in the task of achieving sustained economic recovery and political reform.
Everything good that has happened is to be shoe-horned into the periods when Fine Gael was in power with Fianna Fáil’s terms presented as devoid of positives.
In this presentation of history, it is possible to claim, for example, that the condition of the Irish economy in 1987 was 100 per cent the preserve of Fianna Fáil even though Fine-Gael-led governments were in power for nearly 10 of the previous 15 years.
Equally, this approach chooses to remain quiet about the many clear examples of progress which have been at the core of Fianna Fáil’s electoral appeal rather than the stereotype, often presented, of clientelist herds voting against their own interests.
Fianna Fáil’s leading role in expanding education provision, creating social protection schemes, securing foreign investment and many other achievements is real and substantive.
A very good example of the anti-Fianna Fáil caricature, this one not used by Sarah Carey, has been seen in relation to the minimum wage, where the decision to cut it to reflect falling prices and a tougher market has been presented as a “bosses’ agenda”. Conveniently ignored is the fact that we actually created the minimum wage – in contrast to the government in which Messrs Kenny and Gilmore served which decided one was not required.
There are many aspects to the problems our country faced. To try and fit them into a black and white morality tale spanning from 1922 to today is no way to understand them.
I am genuinely amazed that any commentator could be so cynically dismissive about the work which Fianna Fáil has done in relation to Northern Ireland in recent years. To suggest that we would not allow any progress which didn’t involve us, or that there was an implicit conspiracy between us and Sinn Féin to deny Fine Gael its due triumph of delivering a final agreement in 1996, is a partisan rewriting of history of the worst type.
Having worked very hard to get key elements of the peace process going in the early 1990s, often in the face of considerable partisan opposition in Dáil Éireann, we were constructive in opposition.
Even someone lightly following the news of the last decade can see that there was nothing inevitable about the progress subsequently achieved during our time in government. To this day we retain a commitment to working with all communities and parties in the North and we have been consistently non-partisan on this issue.
It would appear that a blind cynicism among some in the 26 counties about Fianna Fáil’s approach to the North is capable of outlasting that of loyalists, unionists, nationalists and republicans in the North itself.
Sarah Carey’s final theory is that public sector reform will be stymied by a coalition of Fianna Fáil, the unions and a supplicant Labour. Based on the bizarre idea that we designed the Croke Park Agreement to fail through a review fiendishly timed to fall due when Fine Gael would be in power, she sees this as a plot to destroy a new government and return to power.
Public service reform is essential and, what’s more, it is happening. Croke Park is already beginning to deliver falling numbers and falling costs.
The agreement provides a constructive rather than confrontational way of achieving it which is based on credible timelines and clear accountability.
Trying to drag it into party advocacy serves no constructive purpose. The situation faced by our country today is unique.
In the time before the election we can either have a serious discussion which recognises the many aspects of our problems and options for the future or we can wallow in partisan stereotypes – believing above all that “they” are to blame for everything.
Ours is a diverse country which has achieved and sustained a lot of progress in its history and in recent times. A black vs white political debate may be comforting for some, but it has little positive to offer.
Micheál Martin is Minister for Foreign Affairs