Irish Examiner view: Politics can learn from Catholicism

Unchanging institutions rejected

Darragh O'Brien, Minister for Housing Local Government and Heritage. Picture: Moya Nolan

This weekend, Catholic churches were probably quieter than any other Easter weekend since the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed in 1829.

 Pandemic restrictions were, for a second year, central to this but that cannot mask a relentless breaking away. That end of fealty has different meanings for different generations. Some older people are still angered by Catholicism’s historic role, yet some of their peers remain loyal to the idea, if not the institutions, of that church. 

Their children, some at least, are apathetic, if not passively hostile, to a church that clings to beliefs they regard as cruel. Many of those born after Pope John Paul II’s 1979 visit, wonder why a shrinking institution remains so prominent in education. For all that, the denouement of Catholicism is old news, but maybe other institutions should consider how studying that fate could help them survive by changing — if they have the emotional or intellectual capacity — to again become relevant. Step forward Fianna Fáil.

One of the founding institutions of modern Ireland, that party, once The Soldiers of Destiny but now a worn veterans’ club mainlining nostalgia, has fallen so low that its survival is in question. A number of FF deputies may not stand at the next election as they are unnerved by disastrous poll findings. 

Their leader, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is, like St Sebastian, shot full of arrows by those who would replace him. However, none of his usurpers has shown even a flicker of the vision or energy needed to ensure the party reaches its May 2026 centenary above the 11% recorded this weekend.

The reasons for this collapse are legion but one illustrates perfectly why Fianna Fáíl — Fine Gael too — have so much ground to make up with the post-John Paul II visit generation. 

Housing crisis

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien persists with his affordable housing plan, despite multiple warnings that it is little more than “an early Christmas gift for developers”. One analysis after another, especially one from his civil servants, suggests it is another half-cocked gesture.

 Just as a member of the Catholic hierarchy did when he dismissed blatant lying as “moral reservation”, Mr O’Brien misjudges his audience. He also exacerbates the housing crisis and contributes to the 11% rating. Such commitment to failed orthodoxy suggests that the distance between Fianna Fáil’s Oireachtas offices and the Natural History Museum — The Dead Zoo — is shorter than is imagined. 

The grim reaper may not be knocking as loudly yet for Fine Gael but that party would be foolish to imagine itself insulated from growing and justified discontent

Whether that discontent ushers Sinn Féin into the Taoiseach’s office remains an open question. 

However, the Easter Sunday reiteration that we should prepare for a reunited Ireland seems deliberately deaf to the street violence again unfolding in the North and puts a renewed onus on those who oppose Sinn Féin. That party and Fianna Fáil are at different stages of development — ask Chris Andrews. Fine Gael is at another point and has time to learn from both its opponents if it can disinter ambition and renew a commitment to social equity. But, as the almost 80 Bob Dylan warns, and as any octogenarian cleric will confirm, it’s later than you think.