INSIDE POLITICS:The dominating feature of Irish politics has been a short-sighted scramble to placate vested interests, writes STEPHEN COLLINS
IN 1859 the great British statesman William Ewart Gladstone felt compelled to write to his wife the morning after a debate in the House of Commons on the Galway Packet Company, one of the intractable political issues of the day. “The scene was sickening and all the Irish were there, most of them vying with each other in eagerness to plunder the public purse,” he wrote.
In the light of the profligacy that has brought the public finances to their current sorry mess, it seems that not a lot has changed in 150 years.
In his later life Gladstone came to the conclusion that the irresponsibility of Irish politicians in their approach to public spending would come to an end once the country had its own parliament. It was one of the considerations that motivated him to adopt the policy of Home Rule and, incidentally, wreck his party in the process.
Sadly, the history of independent Ireland has proved that his confidence was misplaced. The dominating feature of Irish politics has been a short-sighted scramble to placate vested interests with public spending programmes that have regularly undermined national policy on almost every front, from health to industrial development.
The current appalling plight of the public finances is a direct result of the profligacy of Bertie Ahern’s governments since 1997 when public spending was ratcheted up far ahead of economic growth, year after year. For a decade Ministers vied with each other in boasting in the Dáil about how much they were spending as if that was the only thing that mattered.
The Opposition parties have to take some share of the responsibility as well because, instead of holding Ahern to account for leading the country down the road to ruin, they attacked him for not going far enough. A rare exception was Fine Gael deputy leader, Richard Bruton, who had the courage to oppose the extravagance of benchmarking.
It took another six years for reality to dawn on the Government, and by the time it did it was almost too late. As recently as 12 months ago, when tax revenues were patently collapsing, the Government handed out a 2.5 per cent pay rise to public servants and agreed to pay another increase of 3.5 per cent this year, since deferred.
The atmosphere is very different now. Brian Cowen appears to have made up his mind to do what is needed to restore the economy to health, regardless of the political consequences. His unwavering response to the two Sligo TDs is in sharp contrast to his efforts to placate the social partners a year ago. It has also sent a signal to other TDs in advance of the horrendously difficult budget decisions to be made in the autumn that he will not be swayed by threats of defection.
The decision to take a tough line in the pharmacy dispute and stick to it is another sign of that resolve.
Now that the Government has belatedly come to grips with reality and is making a determined attempt to get spending under control, and put the tax system on a firmer foundation, the context for political debate has changed. It is unlikely to save Fianna Fáil at the next election, but it poses a real challenge for the Opposition to respond with realistic policies rather than populist rhetoric.
Fine Gael and Labour will almost certainly take power next time around but, if they do not prepare carefully for that day, they could find themselves forming a short-lived and turbulent coalition. Making promises to the electorate that have no chance of being fulfilled in these desperate economic times would be a recipe for disaster.
The Sligo hospital row will provide the Opposition with an opportunity to impose political pressure on the Government when the Dáil resumes, but Fine Gael needs to think carefully before putting down a motion designed to flush out the two Fianna Fáil TDs. The national cancer strategy, with its focus on centres of excellence, is accepted by almost all the medical experts, and cancer patients for that matter, as being the best policy to save lives. Fine Gael might gain some short-term advantage and embarrass two Fianna Fáil TDs through a motion calling for the retention of full cancer services in Sligo. However, such a move would do nothing for the party’s credibility as an alternative government and it would also foster public delusion about what it could do in office.
One of the features of Irish political history is that a Fine Gael-led coalition has never won two consecutive terms in office. One of the reasons for that is that they have generally taken power in bad times and have been forced to adopt unpopular policies. Another reason, though, is that they have also raised the expectations of the electorate in the desperate struggle to beat Fianna Fáil.
Next time around the last thing Fine Gael needs to do is oversell itself. The voters are waiting for their day of vengeance with FF and power will almost inevitably pass to the main Opposition party. What Enda Kenny needs to do is prepare the public for further tough decisions allied to a programme of serious reform, particularly in the public service. He also needs to have an understanding with Labour that will enable the two parties to work successfully together in government, as they have done before.
Labour can afford to take a more populist line in the election campaign, but Eamon Gilmore too will need to be conscious of preparing for office and not simply winning votes. One of the reasons Labour managed to win an unprecedented three elections in a row in Britain is that in 1997 Tony Blair set his face against extravagant promises so that the electorate had a realistic expectation about what he would do in office.
The current economic crisis may have one positive consequence if it ends the addiction of our politicians to promising ever more public spending with no regard to the cost or the quality of the services being provided.
For rational political debate to work, voters will have to reward politicians who act responsibly in the national interest rather than those who seek to plunder the public purse without regard to the consequences. Ultimately, we get the politicians we deserve.