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I hope you are all staying safe and
well. My thoughts are with those who are sick and with their relatives, and
with those who have suffered bereavement. Welcome back to our leader Mary Lou who
was down with Covid-19.
Notwithstanding the primacy and
priority that the pandemic deserves, not least because of the deaths and
distress it is causing I want to return to the need for a Government for Change
in Dublin. In fact the pandemic and the recovery from it requires such a
government.
In the days before the February
General Election I described that election as part of the necessary process of
the realignment of politics on the island of Ireland. I also remarked that this
process has been slow and hesitant at times but that if republicans do our work
well – think strategically, organise, be energetic and rooted, never give up
and stay focused on the future, that a tipping point can emerge – a space in
which significant and historic change is possible. I said: “This
election looks like being such an event.”
It was. Although few - me included -
foresaw the strength of the surge in the republican vote.
Sinn Féin won the popular vote and
set about trying to put in place a government for change with those like-minded
parties and individual TDs who had campaigned for change. That work is
ongoing. The options are limited but it’s a long game and it’s not over until
it’s over.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael insist that
they will not talk to Sinn Féin about government formation. Just like the
Unionist used to do. It is deeply insulting, and totally unacceptable for
anyone to disrespect and refuse to accept all voters as legitimate
citizens whose votes are equal to every other vote. The support for this
anti-democratic posture by sections of the media is also reprehensible. Shame
on them all.
The establishment were flummoxed when
Sinn Fein won the popular vote and emerged, following the election of An Ceann
Chomairle, with the same number of elected TDs as Fianna Fáil and more than
Fine Gael. For the first time ever, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael took less than
50% of the vote.
Micheál Martin who was behaving like
An Taoiseach-In-Waiting, was shell shocked. Large sections of the electorate were
clearly opting for change. Mr Martin was not one of them. Like Mr Varadkar his
vision is conservative and confined by and large to preserving the status quo
in the southern state. A consequence in part, of a hundred years of partition
allied to a desire to hold on to power.
Both he and Leo Varadkar repeatedly
rubbished any suggestion that they might enter coalition together. Micheál
Martin said in January that “any government involving Fine Gael is not
change.” He later said: “we will not be entering into a grand
coalition … the people want change … they want Fine Gael out of office …
they’ve been there too long … they haven’t delivered on the key issues of
housing and health and the impact of the costs living.” He described
any u-turn on a coalition with Fine Gael as “Jekyll and Hyde behaviour “.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been
election rivals for almost 100 years. The two parties emerged out of the
violence and chaos of the Civil War. Cumann na nGaedheal governed the Irish
Free State – established under partition - until 1932. It lost the general
election that year to Fianna Fáil which had split from Sinn Féin in 1926. In
1933, Cumann na nGaedheal merged with the right wing National Centre Party and
the fascist Blueshirts to form Fine Gael.
Fianna Fáil posed as the anti-Treaty
Republican Party. Fine Gael was the pro-Treaty party. Each was and is
conservative and their economic record and policies reflect this. Fianna Fáil
had a more populist approach which attracted a greater number of working class
votes.
From 1932 every government formed in
the South had either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael at their heart, often attracting
over 70% of the votes. During this time they did very little to tackle the
festering sore of discrimination in the North or any of the other evils of
partition. Or the inequalities in their own state.
However in the 2016 general election
this cosy arrangement of alternating power between these two parties began to
falter. Fianna Fáil was the party largely responsible for the economic crash in
2008 and the subsequent horrendous deal with the Troika which handcuffed
citizens for decades to come to a €50 billion banking debt. Hundreds of
thousands lost their jobs and many families saw sons and daughters emigrating
to find employment. When Fianna Fáil was kicked out of office in 2011 Fine Gael
and Labour ruthlessly implemented austerity policies that imposed huge hardship
on citizens and cut public services to the bone, especially in the provision of
housing and in the health service.
Little wonder the government had to
scramble to shore up these depleted services in the face of the pandemic. As
always the people, particularly health workers and other frontline workers,
responded with great courage and willingness to help out those most at risk.
Solidarity, community, fairness and decency were and remain the core values
embraced by most citizens.
The logic of the two conservative
parties merging has long been mooted as a logical outcome of the sameness of
their policies and politics. Following the 2016 general election, there was
intense speculation and debate once again around this possibility. Micheál
Martin was explicit: “… the best interests of the Irish people are not
served by a government made up of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We made it very
clear to the Irish people and those voting for us that we would not go into
government with Fine Gael and we’re remaining consistent and true to that
commitment.”
They came up with the next best
option to serve their selfish self-interest – the confidence and supply
agreement. For four years Fianna Fáil kept Fine Gael in power while pretending
that they weren’t really in partnership and culpable for the crises in housing,
homelessness and health. But this time the electorate were not fooled.
Then the awful pandemic kicked in and
understandably the issue of government formation receded in public
consciousness as we all came to terms with this dreadful plague.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have now
produced their Framework document. Its grandiose title is “A draft documents
between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to facilitate negotiations with other parties
on a plan to recover, rebuild and renew Ireland after the Covid-19 Emergency.”
As Pearse Doherty has pointed out if
Sinn Féin had published this document we would have been ridiculed, quite
rightly, by the establishment media. It is dishonest, full of vague
generalizations and aspirations, with no specific plans, timetables, targets,
costings or policy detail. It’s a wish list with no substance.
Its primary aim is to keep Sinn Fein
out of government and put Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government. It cannot
deliver the kind of change that the majority of citizens in the South voted for
in February. Why should citizens, or the smaller parties and independents being
courted by them, trust Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael? These parties are responsible
for the very crises they now claim they want to end.
Their only firm economic commitment
is that a FFFG government will comply with the strict conservative European
fiscal rules. That can only mean a further squeeze on public services. Surely
one of the big lessons of the pandemic crisis is the need, and the entitlement
of citizens, to health care, childcare and eldercare as a right. Surely that’s
the least the State should do in the common good. That means challenging the EU
rules, not blindly complying with them.
The looming economic crisis resulting
from Covid-19 also highlights the common sense need for the island of Ireland
to confront these significant economic challenges on an all-Ireland basis. Our
ability to co-ordinate and maximise our economic response, transform our
healthcare services, protect our agricultural and agri-food sector and produce
an effective climate change policy to meet the climate emergency, would all be
more effective in an all-island context.
The approach of the British
government has been disastrous. Boris Johnson is a disgrace. It makes no sense
for anyone in Ireland to follow his policies, such as they are. It makes sense
to have an all-Ireland approach to Covid 19 – that is what Mary Lou and
Michelle O Neill and Sinn Féin’s Ministerial team have been pushing. We
have had an all island approach for animal health. We need an all island
approach for human health. We have a huge advantage as an island nation and as
we exit this pandemic this is critical.
In the section of their Agreement
entitled ‘Mission: A Shared Island’, Fianna Fáil the so-called ‘Republican
Party’ and Fine Gael the so-called ‘United Ireland’ party, couldn’t bring
themselves to even use the term ‘United Ireland’. Their ‘Shared Ireland’
section contains nothing new. The commitment to establish a “Unit
within the Department of An Taoiseach to work towards a consensus on a united
island” is a lift from Fianna Fáil’s 2020 Election Manifesto in
January. It falls short of what is required to plan for the future. What now of
Simon Coveney’s assertion: "I would like to see a united Ireland in my
lifetime – if possible, in my political lifetime.”
I wonder did he bother putting this
forward? Or did Michéal Martin knock him back? Leo Varadkar has similar lines
on unity. Did he put forward any of these? 0r the proposals coming from civic
society North and South which he received in a letter last November calling for
the setting up of a “Citizens Assembly reflecting the views of citizens
North and South, or a Forum to discuss the future and achieve maximum consensus
on a way forward.” If he didn’t,
why not?
And what
of Micheál Martin’s promise that FF would ‘soon’ produce a white paper on
Unity. That was nine years ago. Three years ago he promised a 12 point plan of
‘concrete proposals’ on unity. No sign of that in the new Agreement. Or
anywhere else.
The truth is while acknowledging the
importance of the Good Friday Agreement - what other choice have they? - the
FFFG Framework document runs away from the need to plan for and win the
referendum on unity which is a core commitment of the Agreement.
Its attitude on this important issue
reflects its position on all the other primary issues. Rural Ireland barely
gets a mention. There is no coherent plan to tackle homelessness. Or Childcare.
The cost of living crisis. Eldercare. Climate Justice.
The National Women’s Council says the
FFFG document will not provide a recovery for women. “Equality is not included in its values, showing a failure to
understand the breadth and depth of inequality that exists in society.”
Inequalities in society are not
inherent. They are caused by inequalities of power. It takes political vision
and political will to change this. It can be done. But not by a FFFG
government.
Building an Ireland of Equals is one
of Sinn Féin’s core objectives. In the General Election Sinn Féin set out
practical costed measures to tackle inequalities. Our main spokespersons, led
by Mary Lou McDonald, were, and are, head and shoulders above their
counterparts in the other parties. They were coherent, committed and passionate
about can-do measures to resolve the housing and health crisis as well as Irish
unity, childcare and the other challenges faced by working families and senior
citizens at the hands of bankers, insurance companies, vulture funds and
landlords.
Look at the much vaunted ‘takeover’
of private hospitals. I said at that time that it would be good to see the
small print of that deal. However, the contractual arrangement that has emerged
- insofar as the Minister for Health will reveal - illustrate that this is a
very good deal for private hospitals, but potentially a very bad deal for the
taxpayer.
As Louise O’Reilly has pointed out: “A minimum cost of at least €345 million has
been agreed, but no maximum price has been set. The reality is that we don't
know what the final cost of this deal will be, but it will be much higher than
the Minister and the HSE have acknowledged publicly at this point. On top of
all this, it is not certain what level of capacity is being utilised in these
hospitals to the benefit of public patients as no figures have been provided.”
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael rubbished
Sinn Féin’s manifesto while failing to put forward proposals to rectify these
inequalities. Now without a hint of embarrassment they proclaim ‘we know there is no going back to the old
way of doing things’. Whatever could this mean?
And why this apparent change of
heart? It’s the voters stoopid!
In the time honoured tradition of
self serving and opportunistic politicians the FF and FG leaders have figured
out where the voters want to go and they are trying to get to the front so that
they can pretend to be leading popular opinion. If it wasn’t so serious it
would be funny.
Micheál Martin is certainly not
funny. His objective is simple. He just wants to be Taoiseach. Nothing else is
important. He cannot be trusted in that office. Neither can Leo Varadkar. They
are the toxic twins of austerity. Their record speaks for itself. So it is good
for the process of political realignment in Ireland that the sham fight between
them is over and that they now have a political agreement. But it is not in the
short and longer term best interests of citizens for them to cobble together a
government.
So the objective of Sinn Féin and
other progressives is clear. Don’t support a FFFG political carve up. Work
together for a Government for Change.
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