Fianna Fáil backs Fine Gael Government – Rearguard action by the old politics

THE SCENE enacted in Leinster House on Friday was not the emergence of new politics. Far from it. In fact it was a rearguard action by the old politics as represented by the two conservative parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

The most significant outcome of the February Dáil general election was that these two parties between them received fewer than 50% of the votes cast. Never since the foundation of Fianna Fáil in 1926 and that of Fine Gael in 1933 did the combined vote of these parties fall so low.

The electoral rise of Sinn Féin and other progressive Left parties and Independents dealt a body blow to the old politics which had seen Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil control both Government and Opposition for decades.

The deserved decimation of the Labour Party at the polls deprived both the right-wing parties of the only potential partner that would form a Coalition with either of them and consign ‘the other crowd’ to Opposition.

Faced with this dilemma, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil conducted the tortuous and often farcical 10-week-long mating game that resulted in Enda Kenny being returned as Taoiseach. It may not be a formal coalition, it may be less a marriage than a civil (uncivil?) partnership, but undoubtedly Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have acted together in an effort to hold back the tide of real political change.

The election outcome saw Fine Gael lose a raft a seats but remain the largest party; Fianna Fáil made gains and the indecisive overall outcome meant negotiations were needed if a Government was to be formed and to avoid a second election. The Dáil arithmetic and the electoral weakening of Kenny put Fianna Fáil in pole position in the negotiations.

Mícheál Martin’s priority was to prevent Sinn Féin from taking its due place as leading party of Opposition. Thus Fianna Fáil refused to form a Coalition government with Fine Gael so they could hold the fort for the Right against Sinn Féin in Opposition.

Many moons ago, Fianna Fáil liked to associate themselves with de Valera’s message to the IRA at the end of the Civil War when he called them “The Legion of the Rearguard”. There was even a song about it: “De Valera leads you! Soldiers of the Legion of the Rearguard.” But now, as they manoeuvre the Fine Gael leader’s return as Taoiseach, and position themselves as sham leaders of the Opposition, Fianna Fáil are the Rearguard of the Right.

The old politics is also evident as Fine Gael relies for power on so-called Independents, mostly from the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil gene pool. They have been rightly christened “Endapendents” but they are inherently volatile and will be the main factor in the instability of this new Government.

What then of the genuine new politics as represented by the Left?

It has to be said firstly that it was people power and the social movement around opposition to water charges, water meters and the Irish Water quango that forced Fianna Fáil to play hardball in negotiations on this issue.

The Programme for Government Fianna Fáil is supporting does not abolish water charges or Irish Water – it suspends the charges and provides for a review of Irish Water.

But in practical terms the charges have been dealt a death blow, a success that campaigners need to recognise and pocket while continuing to demand the complete abolition of charges, metering and the quango.

Water charges, of course, as we said so often, were but the last straw of austerity that the broke the camel’s back. The movement widened into a more general drive against austerity and inequality. That needs to be built upon and Sinn Féin as the lead Opposition party needs to help ensure that the Left in the Dáil becomes more cohesive and more capable of providing a strong, credible and electable alternative to the Right which has temporarily regrouped and realigned itself in order to stay in power.

The conservatives and capitalists have always been better at adapting and strategising in order to retain control of the state.

The Left needs to get its act together and the extent to which certain parties and individuals in the Dáil realise and act on this will test their credentials as people who actually want to deliver real and lasting political, social and economic change.

Sinn Féin is now in a strong position to lead the next phase of the struggle for a real Republic. Its provision of the best possible leadership inside and outside Leinster House will be crucial.

The centenary of the 1916 Rising has led many people to read again the principles of the Proclamation, to examine the legacy of the freedom fighters and to realise that their business is unfinished.

We are on a new stretch of the road to the Republic.

We march on with confidence.