Election letter: Fianna Fáil will endure as it cares about the person and community

In Ireland political parties in most instances have survived and have enjoyed enduring success due to having core purpose and core values which have always remained fixed while on the other hand their strategies and practices have endlessly adapted to a changing world.

All have tried to balance continuity and change whilst trying to preserve their core ideology and work towards an envisioned future.

However their now exists during this general election debate a lack of clarity and rigor to the concepts at large being presented to the Irish people particularly by Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin, all showing a clear lack of vision and an envisioned future for the country. Their vivid descriptions of what it will mean to achieve them are fuzzy, uninspiring, vague and leading to boredom and anger of the electorate.

Fianna Fáil on the other hand has a core ideology and credo which has guided the party since its foundation, which includes a deep respect for the individual, a commitment to community responsibility and a view that the party exists to make contributions for the advancement and welfare of all the Irish people. Our understanding is to know who we are, to know where we are going and knowing where we are going will change as the world changes around us.

Leaders die, products become obsolete, new technologies emerge and management guru’s come and go but core ideology of who we are in the great party that is Fianna Fáil will endure as a source of guidance and support for the Irish people.

Core purpose is a raison d’etre not a goal and political strategy. The basic dynamic of Fianna Fáil is to preserve the core and to stimulate progress. Everyone knows that the Fianna Fáil party has during recent years undergone extraordinary change and reorganisation. One of the paradoxes of change is that trust is hardest to establish when it is needed most and indeed this lack of trust has been frequently quoted by the opposition parties, as a barrier to our continuing success and growth. Remember that reinvention is not changing who we are and not changing our core values.

After the election, when the count is over, remember “crisis is the privilege of survival”. Fianna Fáil will strive to make the most of new opportunities for the Irish people while the opposition will fail still doing their best to make the most of the old ones.

Michael Shields

Halldene Avenue

Bishopstown

Cork