Sustaining politics - Single-party domination unacceptable

FIANNA FÁIL would, in public at least, angrily refute any suggestion that we live in a single-party state.

Privately the reaction might be more one of gratitude and relief that the electorate has consistently chosen them to be the party of power, the party more or less always in a position to deliver on its promises.

The reality is that Fianna Fáil has, except for the occasional temporary little arrangement, been in power for the vast majority of the time this Republic has been in existence.

As that is what the electorate voted for it can be no other way, but the momentum of power and an absolute monopoly of access to the resources of the state put that party in a position that must be envied by anyone trying to establish an alternative political reality in this country; anyone who believes that the opportunity for change is one of the bedrock principles of democracy.

It cannot be healthy that any single entity should be so dominant in any sphere, yet that is the situation we face until at least the dissolution of the current Dáil.

That an enfeebled Fine Gael had to rely on a crutch proffered by a staunchly anti-Fianna Fáíl Labour Party before the May election is just one of the indications of the depth of the problem. That their alliance was not in a position to bring about any kind of change is yet another indication of Fianna Fáil’s seeming permanent grip on power.

That is why the election of Pat Rabbitte’s successor assumes an importance far beyond any of the responsibilities or ambitions of the Labour Party.

Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, José María Aznar, Silvio Berlusconi, Gerhard Schröder and Poul Nyrup Rasmussen were all European politicians who, more or less, led their country while Mr Ahern was Taoiseach. All of them are gone.

Boris Yeltsin, though often unexpectedly boisterous, was in charge in Russia when Mr Ahern was first elected Taoiseach in June of 1997. William Jefferson Clinton was the 42nd incumbent at the White House and had he not been precluded from standing for a third term by the American Constitution George W Bush might not have succeeded him in January 2001.

Mr Ahern has begun his third term as Taoiseach and has said that he intends to lead Fianna Fáil until he is 60 in September, 2011. Who knows what circumstances might force Mr Ahern to revise that ambition during the intervening years.

One of those circumstances might be a re-energised and relevant opposition; a situation that is unlikely if Labour do not pick a leader capable of convincing the electorate that there is an alternative, one that need not be undermined by the fear of change.

Fine Gael too need to play their part if they and Labour are not to become the permanent bit players; as irrelevant to the core of the story as the list of lovers paraded by a recently divorced Princess Diana.

In many ways Fine Gael — represented by deputies of 74 and 65 in one constituency — have more to do if the opposition are to play their part in sustaining a democracy open to change.

The real question is this: what do the parties other than Fianna Fáil need to do to be attractive options for people with the wit and capability to be effective national politicians; what do they have to do to attract the next Bertie Ahern to join them rather than the ranks of Fianna Fáil.

Labour’s leadership election is just one of the many milestones along that road and unless they make the right decision, we will indeed be well on the way to a single-party state. Something neither the country nor Fianna Fáil should want.