Reform Alliance conference: A gathering in frustration

DANIEL O’CONNELL never had it this good. The original purveyor of the monster meeting would have been astounded as to the quality of debate among those in attendance at Saturday’s gathering of the Reform Alliance in the RDS in Dublin.

No more is Catholic emancipation top of the agenda — not even Conservative Catholicism — but issues like whether our water should run free of fluoride, and the quality of IT systems in the nation’s hospitals. Those were just two of the contributions from the packed floor among a gathering which had assembled in disillusion at politics.

They came from the four corners of the land, but demographically, they ran towards the grey brigade. Electorally, these people matter because they all vote. There was a serious gender imbalance, another echo from O’Connell’s time. Men outnumbered women by at least four or five to one. In so many ways the gathering resembled an annual conference of one of the main parties.

Policing the hall were Team Reform, a troop of very young eager beavers togged out in yellow t-shirts. They ushered the 1,000 or so patrons to their seats. It wasn’t exactly rock ’n roll, but by the standards of political gathering the place was hopping by mid-morning. They heard a range of presentations on political, health and economic reform. They’re gagging for reform.

But had they arrived in the promised land? The format for each session was the talking heads spoke from the stage and then the mic was handed to the floor. Some of the contributions from the latter were the usual sensible stuff, others spoke as if they had strayed into a poor man’s Magill Summer school.

The morning session on political reform was moderated by Tom McGurk, with Olivia O’Leary and political scientist Jane Suiter on the panel. After some sensible talk, the mic was handed down from the stage.

One contribution from the floor was from the broadcaster Marc Coleman. He extolled on list systems of election, and regional government. Somebody else called for a vote for the diaspora and another wanted greater considering given by state bodies to tenders from SMEs. Like world peace, all of the main parties are in favour of these things.

Later, there was a thunderous round of applause when somebody decried big government. In the health forum, Dr James Sheehan was given a serious cheer for proposing that the children’s hospital be moved from St James to Blanchardstown.

The reaction was like a happy sigh of relief that the gathering had found something to distinguish themselves from the other parties.

Through it all, the seven parliamentarians in the Reform Alliance floated around. A savage thirst for reform oozed from their pores. They are all used to this stuff. Before the last general election, all were Fine Gael candidates when that party was going out of its mind for reform.

There was little evidence of the anti-abortion issue which was the matter that had brought the seven together. Fears among some reformists that the meeting would attract a vocal anti-abortion agenda were unfounded.

A contributor who lambasted Fine Gael’s failure to keep its promise on abortion received massive applause. But otherwise, it was plain sailing. Rumour had it that the noisier elements of the anti abortion crew were rounded up early in the morning and held incognito somewhere in the Midlands until proceedings at the RDS had concluded.

Apart from that, the only difference was a few bog standard right wing economic proposals that would be at home in most FG gatherings.

Everybody wants reform, but the main theme at the RDS was frustration. But frustration as somebody might have said, isn’t a policy. A few years ago, the organisation Claiming The Future, had a major gathering in the RDS as well. It was full of the same common sense but from a different perspective.

Everybody wants the sensible stuff, better value for public money, opportunities for young people, sensible economics, God, mom and apple pie.

Comparisons with the birth of the PDs are way off the mark. The Progressive Democrats had a clear agenda, economic and social, and could work off a template of watered down Thatcherism.

This Reform Alliance have no such template. Apart from Creighton, none of them are likely to set the political world on fire. But they all have electoral bases, and most are canny operators.

As such, they are likely to solider on into the next election, hoping that Fine Gael will have to come to them cap in hand to support a new government.

If so, they will engage in torturous negotiations to further their agenda, whatever that is. And then Lucinda will get a cabinet seat and the rest will have at least marginally more influence than they had while in Fine Gael. And that’s it, folks. Nothing else to see here. Please move along to the next gathering in the name of frustration at a moribund political culture.