Ex-politicians like Bruton should know when to get off the soapbox

JOHN Bruton is retired from active politics.

We know this because the former Taoiseach takes an annual pension of nearly €140,000 from the public purse — and it was higher before he and former office holders were required to take a cut. You could call it “shush money”, as the term “hush money” has pejorative meanings. But the annual payment, to a man who has not hit retirement age as yet, and who has significant other earnings, signifies something important: he has left the stage, he is no longer a player and is not meant to be and this money compensates for that fact. He is not an ordinary citizen who can duck into and out of major political issues according to his whims.

Bruton’s intervention into the abortion legislation debate on Monday — by way of an opinion column in a daily newspaper — put Enda Kenny, the first Fine Gael party leader to make it to the position of taoiseach since Bruton, under further unnecessary and unfair pressure at just a time when he didn’t need it.

Fine Gael may have ousted Bruton as its leader a few years after the electorate had ejected the man who became taoiseach by default in 1994 after the collapse of the Albert Reynolds-led Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition, but he retains some level of support and influence, and indeed respect. When he opines some people actually listen.

Bruton’s opinion in his newspaper piece — he is prominent in his anti-abortion beliefs — was well argued, as you would expect, whether or not you agree or disagree with it. There are many who would argue that he is quite entitled to argue his position. But I imagine that Bruton, during his time as Fine Gael leader, would have been furious if, at a time of extreme political sensitivity, one of his predecessors made a public intervention and issued demands as to what should be done with legislation. Kenny dealt with the irritation with the good grace we have come to expect from him, one of his better traits, but whatever Bruton had to say should have been argued by others.

Bruton had his turn to act during his time as taoiseach between 1994 and 1997 if he cared so much (and, it should be acknowledged, he successfully proposed the referendum that introduced divorce). He did nothing on laws for abortion though, just as Bertie Ahern’s subsequent governments, and Brian Cowen’s, failed to legislate, despite the clear need, to take account of the 1992 X case decision at the Supreme Court.

(Ahern, in fairness to him, did hold a referendum in 2002, but, and this should not be lost in the fog being created these days, the Irish public upheld the right of women to information about abortion, the right to travel and the right to termination where the life of the woman was at risk, including, specifically, in circumstances of a threat of suicide. It is notable how rarely that 2002 decision of the people has been ignored in the debate of recent days, indeed as if it never even happened.)

Kenny must have noted how this is not the first time that Bruton has attempted to influence the course of events during the lifetime of this Government. Shortly after the 2011 Government was formed he and a group of 16 other notables, including billionaire businessmen and their acolytes, and some other former politicians, presented a “blueprint” to the Government-proposed austerity measures that, had they been adopted, would have gone far beyond anything that the public has endured since Fine Gael and Labour came to power. Thankfully, Kenny’s Government passed on the proposals.

There is little doubt but that Bruton has been well intentioned in his attempted interventions. But he had his time. He may serve on the Council of State as a former taoiseach, to deal with whatever legislation the president asks it to review, but this, in some respects, makes it more important that he does not try to influence the legislation that he may have to review at a future date.

Bruton could perhaps have learnt a little more about diplomacy during his spell as EU ambassador to Washington. He has a job too as a special envoy promoting the International Financial Services Centre. He retired from the Dáil in 2004, but only turns 66 later this month. He is believed to have declined unofficial approaches to stand as Fine Gael’s candidate in the last presidential election. His time for retirement has come.

We need new faces in Irish politics, not the same voices again and again and again. Experience has its virtues, but there comes a time to get off the pitch. Bruton was minister for finance in 1982. He has had his run. But he’s not on his own in that.

That was the year that Gerry Adams became president of Sinn Féin. That he remains the party’s leader is extraordinary, but not necessarily to its advantage. His acolytes have taken to accosting Miriam O’Callaghan for bias for her strong interviewing of Adams during a Primetime programme last Monday night, but Adams only has himself to blame for both the sneering attitude he displayed to her and, more importantly, his failure to address adequately legitimate questions about his IRA past. He wants his cake and eating it: he said he would never deny the IRA, yet he wants to deny his own part in it. Mary Lou McDonald, Pearse Doherty and others will never admit to it but they must have watched and wondered if, no matter how loyal and admiring they are, Adams is as much a hindrance as a help to IRA ambitions south of the border. If the country needs new politics it needs new faces to deliver it.

THAT is where delegates to the Fianna Fáil Árd Fheis last weekend may have shown more smarts than the party leadership. They voted, despite the misgivings of the leadership, to deny former TDs who did not contest the last general election the chance to stand as candidates again in the future. Michéal Martin might like the idea of some of his old chums re-emerging, Icelandic style, to atone for past failures, but correctly these delegates have put the brand identity of the party ahead of the individual desires of potential returning candidates. Imagine the damage that would be done by bringing back the likes of Bertie Ahern or Brian Cowen? (Okay, that’s never going to happen but do we need John O’Donoghue, Beverly Flynn or Dermot Ahern again?) By the same token the idea that someone like Michael McDowell might return to active politics, having flounced off the stage twice before when the people of Dublin South-East rejected the Progressive Democrats, as part of a new “reforming” party is about as appealing as the idea of opinionated newspaper columnists forming their own effort, as almost happened before the last election.

We need new people all over the system; it is to time to move on. Those from the past can enjoy the pensions that seemingly they are constitutionally entitled to keep, no matter what.

*The Last Word with Matt Cooper is broadcast on 100-102 Today FM, Monday to Friday, 4.30pm to 7pm.