A national government is not the answer – we just need a new one

IT’S almost like the silly season was still going on.

You know that time of year when the media has nothing to write about and so politics is approached from a different perspective entirely. We get endless fluff and gossip instead of real news and a concentration on personality instead of issues.

But the Dáil is back. For all our sakes it needs to be politics as normal.

And what does politics as normal mean, or what should it mean? Over the past few days I’ve been able to read nothing except what’s going on in Fine Gael, even though the media can’t find anyone substantial who will say on the record that there is anything at all going on in Fine Gael.

There’s been endless media speculation and commentary about the duty of the opposition to be patriotic and support whatever the Government proposes.

And there’s even been talk about the desirability, at this critical juncture in our history of a national government composed of the best talents in government and opposition alike.

We need to get a grip.

Let’s deal with the last issue first. There might have been a case, when the crisis started, for a national government. In fact I wrote a piece here about how you could construct one – how it could be given a mandate and a decent timescale to deal with the difficult issues facing the country. In the immediate aftermath of the bank guarantee there might have been (maybe even was) an argument that the Government should have called in the opposition leaders and offered to put a national government in place, so deep was the unfolding crisis.

But that moment is long gone. The Government is running out of mandate fast. It wasn’t elected by the people, and if it were to be replaced even by a national government without the people being given a voice in the matter, that would be a serious blow to our democracy.

It is, of course, technically possible for a national government to take the place of the present one if the Dáil were to make such a decision.

It’s even possible for the present Dáil term to be extended by a further two years simply by changing the electoral laws. But it would be an essentially undemocratic thing to do at this stage.

And furthermore, it would be neither necessary nor wise. There are those who argue that the political instability that an election might throw up would be damaging to us economically.

But we’ve been here before – there have been several occasions in the past when governments have had to be put together in the midst of an economic crisis. And there is simply no evidence that instability has resulted or that damage was done. If anything, we have one of the most stable political systems in the world.

When it’s necessary, power changes hands smoothly in Ireland. With the exception of one moment when it seemed as if Charlie Haughey might try to subvert the process, there has never been a time when the outgoing government in Ireland hasn’t cooperated fully with the transition from office.

And it’s not just about the economy anyway. Ruairi Quinn said at the weekend the economy would be the only issue in any election, and he’s right about that. But it won’t be the only issue facing an incoming government.

The reform agenda is huge and urgent. It will include reform of the public service, reform of the way health and social care is delivered, reform of institutions and policies (from decentralisation to evoting), and a lot more besides. That agenda requires fresh faces, unencumbered by the policy decisions and mistakes of the past.

So there is no duty on the opposition to support whatever the Government does or has done. Quite the contrary. Of course an opposition has to be responsible – and by accepting the broad parameters already agreed between the Government and the EU, the opposition has done everything it can in that regard.

But the first duty of any opposition is to hold the government of the day to account, and to seek to replace it at the first available opportunity. The last thing an opposition should ever do is to buy a pig in a poke.

And that’s especially the case when the Government is preparing a four-year plan. A Government that has less than a year to go in its lifetime doesn’t have the right to tie the hands of an alternative government for years after it has left office.

The next government in Ireland, with any luck, will be a strong centre-left one. It will have strong, competent people in its leadership, with tons of experience between them. It will also have a number of social concerns that have not been visible since the crisis began (or, in real terms, for some years before that).

If the people decide to elect such a government, it will be entitled to the time and space to start putting its policies into action – and of course to get their first real look at the books.

No matter what briefings the Government might say they are prepared to offer now, everyone knows the information and insight available to government is never shared in full with anyone. There won’t be much time and the new government will be under pressure from day one. There will be no honeymoon – delivery will be critically important from day one.

So now is the time for the opposition to concentrate on doing what it must do. And that applies more to Fine Gael than to anyone else. The picture is painted, day in and day out, of a Fine Gael party that is fractured and disunited, under a weak leadership that fails to inspire the people.

WE don’t know, of course, if Enda Kenny will grow in office. Right now, of course, it could well be that the office will be Tánaiste rather than Taoiseach.

But if the experience of previous holders of high office is anything to go by – John Bruton and Bertie Ahern could well serve as two good examples – popularity in opposition is no indicator of the respect and success that an office-holder can achieve. People can grow in office, and they can shrink too.

But the reality – the only reality – is that we need an election and a new mandate, especially if years of hard work lie ahead of us. The two main parties in opposition now will seek the strongest possible mandate they can get in the election whenever it happens.

And the shape and character of that next government – the composition of the cabinet, the broad thrust and direction of policy – will be determined by the mandate each gets.

In the negotiations on a programme for government, there will be compromise, again influenced by the size of the mandate each party receives, and there will be agreement.

That’s what politics as normal is likely to produce – and that’s what it should produce. It will produce a government that is focused on a broad agenda and a government that isn’t tired and worn out.

We need it badly and we need it soon.