THE COALITION Government has been blessed, so far, with good luck. Even the silliness of the silly season does not look like it is going to disturb its good run. While British, and to a lesser extent French, German and American leaders have had to interrupt their holidays to deal with national or international crises, our Ministers have been able to enjoy their downtime.
During his term as taoiseach, Bertie Ahern put in place a structured system to contain any negative attention which his government might attract during the six-week cabinet break between the end of July and the early weeks of September. Ahern himself was a creature of habit when it came to his holidays. After the Galway races he would head to Kerry where he enjoyed a real break in the company of some family and friends. Staying in Ireland, however, meant he could keep in close touch with what was going on and was always available to re-engage in public debate should the need ever arise. If all went well he would stay out of the media until at least the third week of August. He did allow, however, for a few photos of himself in a relaxed mode or a few strategically placed mentions of how he was enjoying his break.
Ahern was also a big believer in the need constantly to feed the media, especially during recess. As taoiseach, he used to emphasise to staffers how important it was to ensure that correspondents were not left rummaging around for scraps of news because in such circumstances they were more likely to find and focus on negative stories.
While he was on holidays, the skeleton staff of advisers and press officers in Government Buildings implemented the “silly season grid”. This was a detailed roster of ministers and announcements covering each of the six weeks. Depending on when he or she was due to be away, each minister was assigned to media duty for a few days during the period. The minister for education, for example, was generally rostered for the days around the publication of Leaving Cert results.
For a period of days, each minister became "the minister for Morning Ireland", and was expected to cover all the main news shows and deal with whatever the issue of the day was, even if it was not in their departmental area. Ideally, however, the ministers were expected to shape the media agenda themselves, a feat which it was considered to be easier to achieve during the month of August. Ministers were encouraged to have some bite-size initiative ready for their assigned days or, failing that, to float some interesting but not too controversial policy suggestion which might generate debate.
In mid-August, Ahern himself would return to Dublin. He might do a doorstep or two while out and about to comment on whatever issues had surfaced in his absence but he would usually base himself primarily in his Drumcondra office to stay a bit below the radar. That is where he was, for example, on Saturday, 15th August, 1998, when the Omagh bomb exploded, which meant he was well-placed to co-ordinate the immediate security, political and indeed legislative response. In quiet summers, his practice was to slip away again on holiday for a week or so in late August, often abroad.
Even the best-laid plans however have to allow for events. The Omagh bombing is only one example of where a major crisis emerged during recess. Indeed, on average, one in every five summers involves a Dáil recall in one form or another. Other examples of dramatic summertime events included the near-collapse of the Goodman group in 1990 when the Dáil was recalled to rush through legislation providing for examinerships. The Dáil was also recalled in late August 1994 to debate the beef tribunal report. That special Dáil sitting happily coincided with the announcement of the IRA ceasefire.
Historically, the most significant summertime recall of the Dáil occurred in 1939. TDs were summoned by telegram to an emergency meeting of Dáil Éireann on Saturday, September 2nd, the day after Germany had invaded Poland, and spent the weekend enacting the necessary legislation to give effect to the Emergency – ie the second World War.
This year all is relatively quiet. One gets the sense that the Government is running a similar news management grid, although it need not have bothered. This summer Irish political writers, including this one, have had no difficulty finding non-Government stories to absorb ink and air space. In addition to the news coverage generated by the convulsions on the streets of London or on the global stock markets, we have had the various presidential-election-related shenanigans.
Enda Kenny and his Ministers could not have wished for a better distraction to come along. First there was the Shakespearean drama around David Norris’s withdrawal from the presidential race. Then came the soap opera about Gay Byrne’s putative entry into the race and this was then followed by Micheál Martin’s little local difficulties. With the list of potential presidential candidates still continuing to read like a backlist of RTÉ Guide cover stories, there is every likelihood that the contest will continue to give good copy.
To top it off, the recent bout of financial crises looks like it might be to Ireland’s advantage. In the short term at least, it means Ireland looks a little less like a basket case or, at a minimum, less isolated as such. More practically, if this August drama in the markets expedites the framing of co-ordinated European efforts to address the crisis, it could help Ireland further.
Even when they are not at their desks, everything seems to be going this Government’s way. Surely it cannot last.