Stephen Collins: Coalition is doomed unless it learns to fight back

The three-party Coalition is doomed unless it learns to fight back far more robustly against the forces intent on destroying it. The manner in which it caved in on relatively minor issues like stopping the pandemic payment for foreign holiday-makers and ministerial pay does not augur well for its ability to cope with the really big political storms that inevitably lie ahead.

The Government was entirely justified in withdrawing the pandemic payment for people who flout the advice not to travel abroad unless it is essential, never mind those leaving the country for good. The vast majority of people have willingly obeyed the advice not to holiday abroad. By allowing itself to be bullied into a U-turn by hysterical objections, the Coalition let down the vast majority of people who have shown a willingness to act in the common good even if that entails a financial sacrifice.

The Taoiseach and his Ministers have taken a pay cut which will save the exchequer buttons

The danger now is that the sense of national purpose, which to date has helped the country to limit the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, will disappear. If those who want to flout the rules or seek to exploit the exchequer are indulged, then good citizens may begin to question why they are continuing to follow them, particularly if there is a spike in Covid-19 infections when holidaymakers return.

The Coalition’s other big U-turn on ministerial pay was an unforced error. Passing legislation to give an extra allowance to three Ministers rather than two, as previously, showed poor political judgment given the current climate, but the scale of the controversy was utterly disproportionate to the issue involved.

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Obsession

Politicians’ pay has always been an obsession of the Irish media for as far back as anybody can remember. In the overall scheme of things TDs and ministers are reasonably well paid, but then again so are public servants at all levels. It is interesting to note that the Taoiseach and his Ministers have taken a pay cut which will save the exchequer buttons in the overall scheme of things, but all other public servants will benefit from a 2 per cent pay increase which will cost the taxpayer more than €350 million in a full year.

The way in which politicians' pay has been a political football for so long has given the public the idea that they are vastly overpaid at huge expense to the exchequer. For instance, an Irish Times poll a few years ago found that a majority of people believed that politicians' pay costs the taxpayer more than the entire public service pay bill, when of course it is a tiny fraction of it.

Pandering to ignorance about their pay has done nothing to improve the standing of politicians. When he took office at the height of the financial crisis in the spring of 2011, Enda Kenny imposed serious cuts in politicians’ pay and abolished ministerial cars for most members of the cabinet. He got absolutely no thanks for it when it came to the next election.

Maybe that is why the Coalition did hold firm on the other contrived controversy of the week: the attempt by Labour leader Alan Kelly to make a mountain out of a molehill over the fact that Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Simon Coveney has retained a State car and Garda driver even though he is no longer tánaiste.

Coveney, at the instigation of Leo Varadkar, was enabled to retain his ministerial car on the entirely logical basis that he needs it for security reasons – if only because he frequently visits Northern Ireland on official business. The fact that the issue generated headlines is a commentary on the juvenile level of so much of the political debate in this country.

Bloody and bowed

Ministers will certainly let out a sigh of relief this weekend that they have made it to the summer recess, but there is no disguising the fact that they are bloody and bowed after their first month in office. Unless they can come back in September with a different approach, they could well be overwhelmed by the serious autumn storms which are already building.

The Taoiseach and his Ministers will have to think through their big policy decisions in a rigorous fashion and then stick to them. They will also need to communicate with the public in a more coherent way and avoid being forced to fight on ground dictated by the Opposition and the media.

Ministers and backbench TDs will also have to toughen up and fight back rather than running scared every time a so-called crisis erupts. A rare example of the kind of spirit that is needed has been provided by new Dún Laoghaire Fine Gael TD Jennifer Carroll MacNeill from the moment of her election.

When Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald and Pearse Doherty engaged in typically belligerent attacks on the Government’s recent economic stimulus package, Carroll MacNeill hit back, systematically demolishing all of their claims. Naturally, she received no publicity for her effective counterattack, but it was an example of what Government TDs need to do. Unless they follow her example and take on the Opposition in a robust fashion, false claims of all kinds will be widely accepted as fact. The problem is most Coalition TDs seem more inclined to hide rather than fight when the going gets tough.