The lamentable condition of Fine Gael is emblematic of a more widespread condition in Irish society. It might be termed End of History Syndrome, a form of ennui arising from a belief that virtually everything desirable has been achieved, or almost achieved, accompanied by a growing sense that perhaps everything is not boxed after all, but that we shouldn't say anything for fear of sliding back into the darkness.
The condition has its roots in the social changes of the past 20 years. More than any other institution in Irish life, Fine Gael must be credited (or blamed) for instigating these changes. Garret Fitz-Gerald's "Constitutional Crusade", building on the foundations of the Just Society prescription, spearheaded the massive social upheavals of the 1980s and 1990s and brought about the defeat of what were once called "the forces of traditionalism".
Although FitzGerald himself was absent from the victory podium, the issues he identified in his crusade have all been won, at least on the terms understood at the time. Divorce and contraception have been facts of Irish life for some years now, and it is only a matter of time before the abortion debate is resolved in much the same manner as in other western societies. Moreover, the debates around these issues have fundamentally altered the nature of Irish life, eroding the power of the previous monoliths and promoting a new sense of personal freedom among individual citizens.
The snag arises from the fact that the iconography of personal freedom has become so enshrined in the psyche of the present generations that it is not possible to argue as to its limits without creating a fear that it will be snatched away. Because the battle was so hard and so recently won, there is a sense that its consequences cannot be questioned without yielding to the forces of reaction believed to be out there still in the undergrowth.
At the end of any project, even something as simple as redecorating a room, there is a period of reflection and adjustment when the debris is tidied up, the final touches added and the furniture arranged to maximise the functionality of the space. This has yet to happen in the Ireland created under the leadership of Dr Garret FitzGerald. Perhaps there is a fear that, if we come to look closely at the mess in the course of tidying it, we may begin to suspect that we have painted ourselves into all the wrong corners. The architects refuse to relax for fear someone will begin restoring the room to its former condition.
Fine Gael's inability to build a space for itself has to do with its sense of ownership of change, and yet also with a lack of confidence in that ownership. Because the reforming project was so clearly defined as a black-and-white battle between tradition and liberalism, there has yet to emerge a voice of leadership which might acknowledge that, in fact, the battle is over and won. Much of the younger elements in Fine Gael during the FitzGerald heyday continue in middle-age to perceive their political identities as arising from allegiance to "liberal" values and opposition to "traditional" ones. To an extent this may be because its internal struggles in the 1980s has imbued the Fine Gael imagination with a sense of insecurity concerning its achievements. Fine Gael is still haunted by the ghosts of Alice Glenn, Tom O'Donnell and Oliver J. Flanagan, causing every member, every time a sensible thought enters his or her head, to pause and wonder whether uttering it might give succour to the forces of reaction.
The problem is that what we now need from politics is not broad-brush social changes, but refinements and adjustments on changes which have already been implemented, and there are countless areas of Irish life where such initiatives are necessary and possible without major implications for the changes already achieved. There is an urgent necessity for a moral social vision which might help to reorientate our collective concept of the purpose of social life. More specifically, there is a sense that the values of individualism and personal freedom have infected social thought, policy and institutions to such an extent that there is no longer any collective sense of what social values should properly encompass. One obvious specific area of concern, providing an emblem of the overall failure, is that, although the great liberal Holy Grail of divorce has been secured, the fall-out from marital breakdown is brutalising beyond what might remotely be deemed inevitable, but nobody will tackle the issue because this could be read as acknowledging that conservatives might have had a few good arguments about the downside of divorce.
Without such an analysis, Fine Gael is doomed. There are just about enough kneejerk leftist liberals around to support the simplicities of the Labour Party; Fine Gael needs to look elsewhere to rebuild its base. One of the frustrating things is that, although Fine Gael, in the past generation, has yielded some of the most visionary and intelligent politicians to serve this State since independence, the most thoughtful contributions of such individuals always occur after they have left power. This was true of Garret FitzGerald, and more recently of John Bruton. What both Fine Gael and this society need is a Fine Gael leader to advance a subtle and sophisticated critique of the nature of Irish society while he is still in with a chance of doing something practical.