Resignations just pointless posturing

Resigning from any organisation, political or otherwise, is a legitimate form of protest but whether it achieves anything other than 15 seconds of infamy — or admiration — for the protester is more than questionable.

Whether it is an appropriate way to represent those who exercise their franchise to elect a constituency representative to a democratic forum is even more than questionable. That self-centred style of protest may even be counter productive as a voice that opposes a position or a policy is removed from the debate, thereby ending any possibility of influencing outcomes.

Resigning from a party in power hardly seems an effective way to shape policy or events, especially a party in a coalition with an unassailable Dáil majority. Change is not driven from the sidelines and irrelevance beckons for those who choose parliamentary isolation even if it is principled.

Yesterday, Dublin West TD Patrick Nulty formally — and finally — quit the Labour Party because “being a party member no longer assists him in advancing his political beliefs”. He has really just regularised a position he has held since he was expelled from the parliamentary party in Dec 2011 for voting against a budget just six weeks after his election to the Dáil. That very early decision, so soon after his victory, seems to hint at a lack of awareness around the state of the country and what must be done, unfortunate or otherwise, to rebuild it.

Chairman of Wicklow County Council Tom Fortune and Wicklow councillor Barry Nevin have quit Labour too because, they argue, the party has lost its “credibility”. The impact of their decisions may not be profound for anyone other than those they represent.

Labour is not the only party facing the prospect of resignations over divisive policy. It is unlikely, as legislation recognising the X case, 21 years after the court ruling deemed it necessary, passes through the Oireachtas, that Fine Gael will not lose a few members because of their unease over abortion. At least one potential casualty is a cabinet member.

It is significant too that resignations on matters of principle from parties in opposition are almost unheard of. This is just an acknowledgement that the impotence of opposition can be made even more cutting by leaving a party that may eventually, but not just yet, influence affairs.

In anticipation of a revolt over abortion, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has wisely insisted that the party whip be observed. This may seem an imposition on individual consciences but in reality, is no more than democracy in action, warts and all. The process may seem arbitrary and concentrate power in the hands of a party executive but the alternative is even less attractive. It is certainly more inefficient.

Our political class has been the subject of considerable criticism, much though not all of it justified. Those who show the forbearance and understanding that sometimes puts the collective before the individual deserve support. Politics is the art of the possible but unless unity and solidarity, patience and understanding, inform each politician’s decision-making process, then little enough is possible.

After all standing outside the tent shouting about what’s going on inside it is little more than a waste of everyone’s time.