Elaine Loughlin: Once revolutionary, fallen Soldiers of Destiny now tinker at the edges
Elaine Loughlin: Younger voters are turning to Sinn Féin, which, it could be argued, is now more like the Fianna Fáil of the 1930s in its policy positions than Fianna Fáil itself.
The Soldiers of Destiny have strayed so far from the progressive social and economic programme they were built on that it is little wonder a whole generation is failing to identify with them.
Instead, younger voters are turning to Sinn Féin, which, it could be argued, is now more like the Fianna Fáil of the 1930s in its policy positions than Fianna Fáil itself.
What has happened to the Fianna Fáil of 1935, a party that moved 27 Irish-speaking families from the impoverished land of Connemara to new homes in Ráth Chairn, Co Meath, tackling congestion along the western seaboard and creating a thriving and vibrant Gaeltacht in the Galltacht in the process?
What has become of the Fianna Fáil of 1944, a party that was willing to increase the total expenditure of the State on social services by 25% in order to roll out the children’s allowance?
Introducing the universal measure, then industry and commerce minister Seán Lemass dismissed a cheaper, means-tested option, claiming it was “desirable that we should avoid any possibility of making the payment of children’s allowances to a family a badge of poverty”.
Where is the Fianna Fáil of 1965, which ensured the inheritance rights of spouses and children were protected through the Succession Act?
Or where are the remnants of the Fianna Fáil of 2004, a party that became a world leader with the introduction of the smoking ban?
In its alternative budget, Mary Lou McDonald’s Sinn Féin set out a plan to build 20,000 social and affordable homes in 2022.
Detractors were quick to dismiss the party’s housing proposals, among them Fine Gael senator John Cummins, who said “without a magic money tree, their proposals simply do not stack up”.
But these are exactly the policies Fianna Fáil pursued on an annual basis under Éamon de Valera, a government that built 132,000 homes between 1932 and 1938 — that’s an average of 22,000 a year and more than double what the current Government expects to deliver next year.
Dev’s ambitious approach to housing also bolstered the economy by creating tens of thousands of jobs in towns and villages across Ireland.
These were not aspirational homes set out in a rehashed 10-year plan; they were the bricks-and-mortar developments that remain dotted the length and breadth of the country.
Radical ideas do not always work out, but what’s the alternative when the current approach to housing has clearly not worked over the past decade?
This Government appears devoid of the imagination, flair, and courage required and continues to adopt the same ideas with a few alterations and additions bolted on.
“If you try to address the same problem with the same solutions then you will keep coming up against the same problem,” said Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher.
“We are doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
The stagnation of policy, which is not limited to housing, is no doubt a frustration felt within the party, resulting in an identity crisis.
This was clearly outlined in the recent Fleming report, examining the party’s disappointing general election last year, which found Fianna Fáil had become “indistinguishable” from Fine Gael.
Kildare North TD James Lawless, who has now been tasked with leading a commission to implement and expand on the Fleming report, said: “I think that in recent years, there may have been a perception of us being a party of the establishment and a party of the ‘haves’ rather than the ‘have-nots’.
“I think that’s probably unfair, given our history, but nobody is going to vote for us on the basis of what we did 50 years ago, and we need to reconnect and resonate with people who don’t remember Bertie Ahern, never mind de Valera.”
Citing housing, the Irish language, climate change, and the issue of a united Ireland, Mr Kelleher said his party needs to adopt “new thinking”.
In his budget speech, Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the Government’s Housing for All blueprint as “a radical, realistic, and costed plan, which will open up access to affordable, high-standard housing to purchase or rent”.
“The loss of nearly 10,000 new houses due to the pandemic has added new pressures to an already serious situation, but the reality is that a step-change in house building, and the building of public housing in particular, is now under way,” Mr Martin told the Dáil.
The Taoiseach and his party may continue to use the rhetoric of those who went before them but their approach is far from radical.
The opposition was always going to criticise the latest edition of the Government’s plan to solve the housing emergency, but groups including Social Justice Ireland have also said the target of 90,000 social homes in Housing for All would address only three-quarters of existing need, and does not take account of the 27,500 new households entering the system each year.
Radical doesn’t have to equate to off-the-wall proposals that will never work, but radical governance does involve a level of bravery, creativity, and ingenuity.
The Fianna Fáil of today has so far resigned itself to tinkering around the edges.
Wolfe Rudiger Hess, the son of Adolf Hitler’s former deputy leader Rudolf Hess, wrote to President Éamon de Valera in January 1968, asking him to sign a petition calling for the release of his father on humanitarian grounds.
“It is my intention to send it to leading newspapers like the , the and Wolfe Hess wrote. “It would make all the difference if you would add the weight of your signature to the appeal.”
The president’s secretary advised Ambassador Eamonn Kennedy on March 5, 1968, to acknowledge the letter, but there was no intention of doing anything further
The Cabinet will meet to discuss reopening measures due to come into force from Friday. However, given the rising number of cases, it is likely the Government will sign off on a watered-down version of what had initially been expected.
Sláintecare is on the agenda in the Seanad on Tuesday evening, meanwhile, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly will take questions in the Dáil.
The Health Committee will speak to representatives from the HSE on the BreastCheck screening programme and how breast cancer outcomes can be improved.
Earlier this year, the Citizens' Assembly recommended that references to a woman’s place being in the home should be deleted from the Constitution. The 99 members of the assembly on gender equality also voted for radical reform in other areas, including the introduction of gender quotas in all elections and across public and private bodies. Their recommendations will be discussed in the Dáil on Wednesday evening.
The resourcing and capacity of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), and how it addresses issues relating to migrant workers is to be discussed at the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The committee will hear from representatives of the WRC and the International Transport Workers Federation.
The Joint Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development will get an update on the rollout of the National Broadband Plan for Rural Ireland, which is significantly behind schedule this year.
The Taoiseach is in Brussels for a meeting of the EU Council. European leaders will discuss the recent hikes in energy prices and will assess what measures can be taken at both a national and European level to address the impacts of these increases. Migration and EU trade policy is also on the agenda.
Terence MacSwiney, the Mayor of Cork, died in a London prison after 73 days on hunger strike. Announcing his death, the wrote: "His demise, under such terrible and tragic circumstances, has cast gloom throughout the length and breadth of the country, as well as in many distant lands in which many Irishmen and women at present reside."
Cearbhaill Ó Dailaigh resigned as President after Defence Minister Paddy Donegan described him as a thundering disgrace. Mr Donegan had made efforts to apologise for the off-script remarks made at the opening of a new cookhouse and dining hall at Columb Barracks in Mullingar, however these efforts were rejected by Mr Ó Dailaigh. Letters released years later suggest that the insult was far worse than what had been reported at the time.
Golfgate may go down in the political history books, but it it wasn't the first scandal involving a ball, stick and elected representatives. The reported on a Fianna Fáil golf classic that ended in embarrassment for four party activists, including then Cork senator Billy Kelleher, after they were disqualified from the fundraising event. The winning team also had to return their prizes when the event organisers learned that not all of them were affiliated members of golf clubs at the time.
It emerged that Revenue was looking to use a 17th-century statute to sell land put into a trust by former taoiseach Charlies Haughey. It was thought the land in north county Dublin that Mr Haughey put into a trust for his daughter and three sons was safe from the State, but the tax authorities were hoping to fall back on an obscure piece of legislation, the 1634 Conveyancing Act, to claim back money owed to them.
Former taoiseach Jack Lynch passed away. Reporting on the death, stated that even Charlie Haughey — whom Mr Lynch sacked from Government during the 1970 Arms Crisis — paid tribute. "My abiding memory of him was as a very strong person with tremendous personal charm," Mr Haughey said.
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