Stagnant political system fails to win ground in our new economic war
During the Roaring Twenties, when the rest of the world was enjoying an economic boom, this country was mired in the aftermath of the Civil War. Finance Minister Ernest Blythe sought to reduce government spending by cutting the old age pension by one shilling and they were never allowed to forget it.
The Cumann na nGaedheal government sought to escape from its economic woes by blaming Eamon de Valera for just about everything, as the Irish people had been blaming the British for generations.
Following the arrest of de Valera in Ennis after the Civil War, the government ordered that charges should be brought against him as soon as possible.
The government blamed him for starting and prolonging the Civil War, but he had in fact tried hard to stop it. The attorney general reported the only evidence that could be found of any wrongdoing by de Valera during the conflict was an inflammatory letter he wrote to the secretary of Cumann na mBan.
If they only charged him with inciting Cumann na mBan, they would have been the greatest laughing stock of all time, so they held him for 11 months without trial and then freed him.
This perverted sense of justice was symptomatic of the irrationality of de Valera’s opponents and it set a pattern for Irish politics ever since — to err is human, but blaming it on others is politics.
When de Valera contended that Ireland did not owe land annuities being paid to Britain, Neville Chamberlain, the British chancellor of the exchequer, told his colleagues the Long Fellow had an arguable case. Dev offered to submit the issue to international arbitration, but Chamberlain refused because of the risk Britain would lose.
Cumann na nGaedheal representatives secretly urged the British not to give in to de Valera because it would ruin them. Britain decided to wage the Economic War on Ireland. A good case could have been made against Cumann na nGaedheal for “economic treason” in the early 1930s.
Yet when it came to actual ideological issues, there was never much difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Fianna Fáil’s policy could be summarised in the two words — “Up Dev” — and that was always enough to drive Fine Gael into a frenzy in which they lost all reason.
They called de Valera “the blind bastard,” but they were the ones who went into a blind rage at the mere mention of his name.
While de Valera could be blamed justly for his part in rousing passions that led to the civil war, he subsequently deserved credit for some very real accomplishments. Even within Fine Gael they had to accept that the manner in which he kept Ireland out of the Second World War was masterful. From 1920 to 1940 most of the Catholic countries of Europe turned to fascism, but de Valera did a magnificent job in preserving democracy in this country, while Fine Gael, in its irrational opposition, toyed with the fascist Blueshirts.
De Valera’s Ireland is now frequently portrayed as a priest-ridden bog, but episcopal fascists like John Charles McQuaid were always afraid of walking on the Long Fellow’s toes, whereas they trampled on the Fine Gael and Labour leadership, which lay prostrate before them.
During the 1950s most of the world enjoyed an economic boom, but as in the 1920s this country was in a virtual depression until the advent of TK Whitaker.
Traditionally, the government would take credit for the plans drawn up by civil servants, but de Valera realised that something different was needed, so his government gave the credit for new economic thinking to Whitaker when it adopted his economic plan in 1958.
Garret FitzGerald recently called for “a kind of Ken Whitaker” to deal with our current problems. It is as if our politics have become so stagnant the main political parties must have an outsider come up with an idea so each side can support it without appearing to give credit the other side.
In his book One Spin on the Merry-Go-Round, Seán Duignan quoted a Fianna Fáil insider. “The difference between us and them is that we never go on with the ‘holier than thou’ bullshit,” he said. “You’ll never find us accusing them of being crooks and thieves, yet they keep throwing that stuff at us. To tell the truth, when we’re faced with one of these blasted allegations, the first thing we whisper to one another is ‘did we do it?’ ”
In recent weeks, of course, members of the Fianna Fáil Government have been trying to cover up their own ineptitude by resorting to personal attacks on the Opposition, or empty protestations about suffering for having taken the hard decisions. They are only fooling themselves, as is patently clear from the recent public opinion polls. In a crisis a government must act decisively. If its initial efforts prove inadequate, its credibility is damaged and it becomes all the more difficult for its subsequent measures to be effective. The current Government seemed to act boldly last September, but it did not act boldly enough and had to act again in October.
They had to back down on the medical card fiasco and the attempt to impose the 1% levy on people who were not even earning enough to pay income tax. That was the modern-day equivalent of Ernest Blythe taking the shilling off the old age pension in 1924.
IN OCTOBER we had the budget, but it has already proved woefully inadequate and politically inept. The nicest thing one can say about Government ministers is that they do not know what is happening.
“At the end of the January figures, we came forward with €2 billion savings,” Brian Cowen explained this week. “The end of February figures indicate that we’re going to have to do even more.”
It seemed he was trying to suggest the Government did not anticipate the February figures. Incompetence may explain their befuddlement, but it certainly does not excuse it.
But then the Taoiseach has already sought to elevate ignorance to the level of a political virtue by his protestations of not knowing — and not wanting to know — the names of the “Anglo 10”.
Should anyone be surprised that a Government which highlights its ignorance does not inspire much confidence? Some 86% of the electorate are already dissatisfied with the Government’s performance. There is only 14% left to be disillusioned.
Will the new budget be another assault on the “old reliables” and thus drive even more people North to stock up?
Will capital projects be cut thus throwing more workers out of jobs?
Former workers will then be drawing unemployment assistance while the wasters in the bureaucracy will continue merrily milking the system.
The Government is so devoid of vision it is asking the opposition to tell it what to do. Surely this is an admission that it should get out.
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