Irish political divisions

Sir, – John Horgan ("Irish political divisions are all in the wrong places", Opinion & Analysis, February 5th) comments that the reluctance of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to position themselves on a left-right economic policy spectrum has trapped them in a "stale political mould".

Party divisions tend to reflect the rationale for their creation, whether or not still relevant. In Britain and most other most western European countries, major political parties that were originally formed to give political representation to groups with common economic interests have retained their relative places on the left-right spectrum, even when a party leader, such as Thatcher or Blair, has shifted policies abruptly. Where party divisions have emerged from a struggle for independence or a civil war, they can be expected to last for decades, even after the rationale for their formation has disappeared.

For example, although the division between Democrats and Republicans in northern and western American states has always derived from differing economic ideologies, civil war politics prevailed at a national level for a century after the civil war ended. Only after 1964, when unhappiness with the civil rights movement led conservative southern Democrats to support Republican presidential candidate Goldwater, and more definitely after 1968 when a similar, much larger switch of parties was decisive in the election of Richard Nixon, could one identify party divisions with differences in economic ideology.

Perhaps a century after the Irish Civil War, two general elections from now, time will be ripe for a coalition or even merger of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. In Northern Ireland, however, it could well take another 80 years before elections turn primarily on differing views of economic priorities.

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In the meantime, we should be grateful that the current election has begun with a focus on the use of fiscal space rather than on social issues. In matters of public economic management, political parties are indispensable. Voters can normally be expected to welcome public expenditure and to dislike taxation, so without party discipline, it might prove impossible to get a coherent budget (as has frequently happened in the US).

But since there need be no correlation between left-right views on economic issues and liberal/conservative views on the extent to which the state should restrict personal liberties with respect to such things as the use of recreational drugs or abortion, it would be democratically healthier if political parties could leave such things to a free vote. – Yours, etc,

TIMOTHY KING,

Killiney,

Co Dublin.