FF must reinvent itself for a world far removed from parish politics
The recent report from the party’s organisation committee, chaired by deputy leader Brian Cowen, does no more than confirm what frankly all of the party’s politicians and officials have known for a long time.
Based in part on the results of a nationwide survey of FF cumann undertaken last year, the Cowen report concludes that its active membership is dramatically less than its book membership. In a manner typical of his style, Cowen has been frank in his assessment of the party’s problems and his report is designed to serve as a wake-up call and as the leverage to initiate reform.
As originally constructed by Lemass and de Valera in the 1920s and ’30s the FF cumann-based organisational form was graphed onto the Catholic Church’s parish structure. With each parish usually having one school, and therefore one polling station, the function of each cumann was clearly identifiable within a particular geographic area of voters.
The formal annual responsibilities of the cumann were threefold. Firstly, they were responsible for mounting an annual church gate collection.
Secondly, they were expected to check the draft register of electors in their area each year in order to ensure not only that current voters remained on it but also that any offspring of FF households who had reached 18 were added and any other party supporters who had died or moved away were deleted.
The cumann was also expected - ideally monthly but more usually about four times a year - to organise a meeting of FF members in the area to provide an opportunity for the local TD and councillors to offer their perspective on local and national issues and to enable cumann members to let their public representative have a piece of their minds.
At election time the cumann was required to collect its assignment of posters and leaflets from an area headquarters and ensure their erection or distribution. Cumann members were also required to undertake a systematic canvass of every house in the parish and also to assist the candidate assigned to their area on his or her election canvass. On election day itself, alongside the stalwarts of the other parties, the cumann would set up camp, usually in a caravan or horse box, outside the polling station to meet and greet voters on their way in or out and to mark off the register so that probable supporters who had not turned up by early evening could be called on and offered transportation to the poll.
Then on the day of the count the cumann members played a verification role as tallymen monitoring the party’s performance in those polling stations for which they had responsibility.
Between elections the prominent FF cumann members in each area acted as the public representatives’ eyes and ears in the community. It was they who would be approached by a local person with a particular query for the local deputy or, if it was a more private matter, to seek an opportunity to talk to the deputy directly. They were also expected to inform the TD or councillors about any significant local issues, or to tip them off about funerals or other local or family occasions which should be marked by an attendance or a telegram.
While some of the more sniffy modern metropolitan types might wish to disparage this humble, unremunerated contribution to the democratic process, it did represent a direct link with constituency life for our national politics - a two-way communication process which both oiled and shaped the political process. As a model of organisation it worked well and contributed in no small way to FF’s sustained dominance of Irish politics for the last 70 years. The same local branch structure was copied by Fine Gael when it was founded, and even by Labour to a lesser extent.
But now it is less effective as an organisation model and the tasks involved are less attractive to a younger and more sophisticated electorate. The fall-off in FF’s local branch membership in recent decades coincides with a similar fall-off in such activity experienced by other political parties - if they were to be as honest about their membership figures.
THIS has been due in part to the changing nature of society and in particular the reduced involvement in local voluntary activity across a range of community organisations. Trade union membership, for example, is falling and, even in those public sector unions where membership is still strong, it is increasingly difficult to get members to attend a meeting outside of work hours. While sports clubs can still find players, they are finding it increasingly difficult to persuade people to take on local club administration duties.
To date, FF has managed, at least in Dáil elections, to circumvent these organisational weaknesses by sharpening and centralising its candidate selection and by paying for some of the services which voluntary membership used to provide.
In order to ensure posters are up as quickly as their opponents (both within and outside the party), candidates now pay crews of workers to erect them. In order to ensure leaflets get through doors as quickly as possible, and accepting that in many places they couldn’t rely on the party organisation, candidates and national headquarters began paying direct mail companies to undertake the task.
Once elected, most TDs now have at least one full-time staffed office and hold a plethora of clinics across their constituencies rendering them no longer dependent on the party organisation.
Meanwhile, in many constituencies where the organisation is weak, the party gets over this by identifying candidates with a wider appeal and who, if necessary, work outside the established local party structure to access financial resources and people in order to fight elections.
One consequence, however, is that FF has essentially become a franchised brand in some constituencies during elections with campaigns being run by the candidates themselves and the party organisation’s role relegated to policing disputes between candidates in order to avoid mutually destructive campaign warfare between those on the same party ticket.
In the longer term, however, the growth of paid-for electioneering and dependence on individualised candidate campaigns will endanger the party’s base. It has already started to do so in local and European elections. It was the recognition of this fact after last year’s local elections that occasioned the current review.
A thorough modernisation is what FF now requires. The influx of new members through central recruitment initiated by Cowen is only a first step. There is a need to overhaul the organisation in urban areas, particularly in Dublin where in many areas it bears no relevance to the pattern of population movement and development.
However, the party will also need to recognise the need to change the function of its membership - and in particular the need for members to play a more substantial role in policy formation - if active membership is to be attractive to a more sophisticated electorate.
