Bertie is making a dog’s dinner out of the party’s herd of sacred cows
Bertie has been criticised for being too timid, too secretive, and downright inept for not appointing Haughey to the vacant post of minister of state.
If Bertie had appointed Haughey, would the media have welcomed it, or would they have tried to have it both ways and savaged him for promoting the squireen? Some might have questioned whether Seán Haughey had ever done anything to merit his appointment.
After all, some of the media ranters have not had a good word to say about a Haughey for over a decade. Disgruntled party members were already suggesting the Taoiseach was going to appoint Seán Haughey because Charlie had something on him. It would not matter whether there was even a shadow truth to the allegation; some people - even in Fianna Fáil - are always ready to believe the worst of Charlie Haughey.
Bertie may well have feared that pundits might believe the ugly rumours about Charlie supposedly having something on him, or that Seán was appointed for no other reason than that he was the son of one former Taoiseach and the maternal grandson of another. Seán has the pedigree, but this is not horse racing.
Anyway, most would probably think that his father’s political legacy is more a handicap than a help. Can you remember any contribution that Seán Haughey ever made in the Dáil?
Charlie Haughey made 121 contributions during his three years as a backbencher, but Seán has spoken 1,762 times, which comes to more than twice as much as his father’s annual output.
In those speeches Seán toed the party line and never put a foot wrong. He is chairman of a Dáil committee and has the reputation of a conscientious worker.
That was why seasoned observers were convinced he was going to be appointed. Even Fine Gael people expected it, and they were apparently prepared to welcome the appointment as merited. It is worth recalling that when Charlie Haughey was first appointed as a junior minister, or parliamentary secretary as it was called in 1960, his father-in-law was reportedly reluctant to make the appointment but was prevailed upon by some senior colleagues. The nepotism aspect might have been subject to debate, but the standing rules of the Dáil precluded any discussion on the appointment of parliamentary secretaries.
Fine Gael leader James Dillon meekly accepted the decision when the speaker ruled out any debate. Thus, Haughey’s initial elevation passed without Dáil comment.
The following year, as the Dáil was clearing its decks to make way for a general election, Dillon commended Haughey’s “exceptional and outstanding ability”, noting that his “carefully-prepared briefs” were a testimony of “his extraordinary erudition”. Predicting that Fine Gael was going to win the coming election and form the next government, Dillon added: “I hope I shall make half as good use of the brief.”
Haughey was parliamentary secretary to Oscar Traynor, who did not seek re-election, but there was no question of Traynor standing down early to make room for anybody else. He clung to office until the new government was formed. Seán Lemass reappointed all the members of the outgoing cabinet with the exception of Traynor, whom he replaced with Haughey.
The opposition could have criticised this appointment, but no one did. In fact, two of the FG speakers who criticised the new government actually complimented the Taoiseach on Haughey’s appointment.
Some people were surprised recently when Garret FitzGerald called on Charlie Haughey, as there was a perception that they could not stand each other.
Yet Garret has freely admitted that Haughey was always polite to him, and even Conor Cruise O’Brien and Dick Spring say that same thing - Charlie was always and invariably polite to them.
Members of the Dáil undoubtedly have strong reservations about some of Charlie Haughey’s behaviour exposed at the tribunals, but they do not blame the son for the sins of the father. The Taoiseach should have realised this, especially if he consulted cabinet colleagues about the appointment. From the way Seamus Brennan was talking on RTE’s Questions & Answers during the week, it would seem there was no such consultation, which raises a serious issue.
THE Taoiseach selects the members of his cabinet, but the cabinet is supposed to appoint ministers of state.
Is it too much to expect Fianna Fáil to follow proper procedures in government? And what about the PDs, the party of political correctness? I thought Michael McDowell promised they would keep Fianna Fáil straight. Of course, the cabinet’s role in relation to ministers of state has usually been apparent only when a minister was being sacked.
Then the Taoiseach would have to wait for a cabinet meeting to dispose of the outgoing person’s services, as happened with Ivor Callely recently, when the whole thing upstaged the Budget. The Taoiseach possibly thought he would get more stick if he appointed Seán Haughey, so - ever ready to take the course of least resistance - he appointed Mary Wallace. “If Bertie sees a fence, he can’t resist sitting on it,” according to one seasoned Fianna Fáil colleague.
The Taoiseach was apparently surprised by the intensity of the criticism. A sure- footed leader would have moved boldly and decisively. But Bertie prevaricated and then panicked by dragging Síle de Valera into the controversy. She does not intend to run again for the Dáil, so he suggested she should step down in line with a new-found tradition that those who do not intend to stand for re-election should surrender ministerial office in order to afford a party colleague a better chance of re-election.
Síle says she had already agreed with Bertie that she would step down at the end of this year, so what was the Taoiseach playing at?
He had already antagonised Albert Reynolds by encouraging him to run for the Áras while quietly helping to arrange Mary McAleese’s victory.
And now he was antagonising the families of de Valera, Lemass and Haughey. He is making a dog’s dinner out of the party’s herd of sacred cows.
Of course, Seán Haughey did not cover himself in glory either, with his talk about considering his position. There were even suggestions he was considering running as an independent in the next election. That sounded most unlike a Haughey, and Seán denied ever considering such a course.
Whether he ever threatened to run as an independent, he had already overplayed his hand with his talk about considering his position. His father stoically endured the snubs while he was in the political wilderness. If he whinged, he never did it in public because he realised nobody else thinks that anybody has a God-given right to any post in government.
Seán Haughey needs to learn that lesson.
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