Ave! Duci Novo, similis duci seneca or will Ireland ever break free from civil war politics?
Sound the fanfare. Bang the drum. After three years of catastrophic economic mismanagement, the Irish have had the chance to vote out the old guard and vote for change. Fine Gael and Labour have formed a shiny, new coalition. Both parties have vim, vigour and the energy to stand up to the banks and our EU/IMF masters. Thirty five TDs (MPs) including ten government ministers of the failed Fianna Fáil and Green coalition decisively voted off the island by the electorate.
Perhaps it is not quite decimation for Fianna Fáil (centre right). For the first time in their history, they are now the third party of Irish politics. Considering that other parties consist of Sinn Féin (former political wing of the IRA), the Socialist Party (more like communist really even though the party leader gives a good speech), assorted do gooder others (who wail and gnash their teeth but have no viable alternative) and the Green Party who failed to hold a single seat.
And the change the Irish people have voted for… is that of personalities. While the Labour Party (centre left) have new policies, the coalition with Fine Gael (centre right) waters them down to aspirations rather than the nuts and bolts of the Programme for Government. As for Fine Gael, they are Fianna Fáil with a blue tinge. It is true that Fine Gael have fewer members convicted of corruption, fewer bedded down with bankers and property developers and they have robbed the country less than Fianna Fáil, but they have also spent less time in government. Personalities and ethics aside, there is no longer any ideological differences between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. The continued existence of both is one of the barriers to mature politics in Ireland and is what has stunted the growth of a proper lefty party in the Irish Parliament. Instead Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil reenact the same battles year after year, not out of difference but out of a desperation to appear different. When asked to describe the differences between their parties a Fine Gaeler said “Integrity”, while a Fianna Fáiler said “Dem dat know don’t need to ask and dem dat don’t know don’t need to know”.
Indeed, if you squint you could say the difference is Christian Democracy versus Populism but Fine Gael use Populism and Fianna Fáil hold many CD values. Both are social conservatives: neither support gay marriage or abortion and believe that fraud is rife in the social welfare system. When it comes to European policy, both parties supported the Treaty of Nice I, Nice II, Lisbon I, Lisbon II and joining the euro. Their economic policies are both pro an open free market economy; attracting multinational companies with low tax rates; called for lower taxes during the boom which led to our current economic crisis; and allowing unelected and unrepresentative union officials to dictate terms. As for crisis economics both chose to guarantee the assets and liabilities of failed banks and neither will even countenance the idea of a strategic default on bank debt.
But in Ireland, none of the similarities matter because you are born into a political party. Generally, it is the side your grandfather fought on during the civil war. The divide exists because it has always existed, or for what seems like always. The idea of crossing the barricades is unthinkable. If a supporter of one party wishes to make a protest vote, that person is likely to vote for Labour or for one of the smaller parties. In that sense, Ireland does not really have oppositional left/right policy politics but a continuing internecine grudge that prevents us from moving forward.
All the bile, anger and bitter words are over personalities not policies. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have their roots in the same party, old Sinn Féin which split over the Anglo Irish Treaty and conducted a bloody civil war from May 1922 to June 1923.
The 1916 Rising was the insurrection in which Proclamation of the Republic was signed and declared. Although 1916 failed militarily, this document influenced the ideas of later politicians. Another important result was the execution of ninety rebels which left few leaders, two among them were Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins. The politics of the day were coloured by their personalities. After the war of independence, de Valera sent Collins (under protest by the latter) as envoy plenipotentiary to negotiate the Anglo Irish Treaty. Collins later said that de Valera had sent him because he knew that the British would not concede an independent republic and wanted him to take the blame for the compromise.
The talks ultimately resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty which was signed on 6 December 1921. The Treaty offered Ireland the position of a Free State under the dominion of the British monarch and on a par with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Although it was less than expected by the Irish leadership, it was a considerable step forward. The six counties in Northern Ireland were offered an opt out clause which was immediately exercised. Collins said that the Treaty offered Ireland “not the ultimate freedom that all nations aspire and develop, but the freedom to achieve freedom.”
De Valera, for his part, was furious that Collins and Arthur Griffith had signed the treaty without consulting him or the Irish cabinet. He knew that an Irish Republic was not on the table but felt that despite according Collins envoy plenipotentiary status, that Collins should have consulted him before signing. When the parliament ratified the treaty, de Valera resigned in protest and failed to be re-elected subsequently. He went around the country drumming up support for a military coup with such statements as
…would have to wade through the blood of the soldiers of the Irish Government, and perhaps through that of some members of the Irish Government to get their freedom.
When fighting inevitably broke out the two men made a pact to prevent civil war. Both sides on would jointly contest the first election of the new state and form a coalition government afterwards. De Valera betrayed Collins a mere ten days later. The pro-treaty parties secured support from over 75% of the electorate. Collins felt deeply betrayed when de Valera refused to stand by both the treaty and the electoral pact.
Collins was shot and killed during an ambush at Béal na mBláth (the Mouth of Flowers). Some 500,000 people attended his funeral, almost one fifth of the country’s population. He had been pursuing talks with Anti-Treaty leaders and his killing greatly embittered the war and prolonged it by several months. The final phase of the Civil War degenerated into a series of atrocities until de Valera finally called a halt on 24 May 1923.
It took eighty seven years before a Fianna Fáil party member, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, was asked to speak at the annual commemoration of the life and legacy of Michael Collins. He stated
It is true that over time the painful divisions from which emerged the two largest political parties in the State have more or less entirely healed. The differences between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael today are no longer defined by the Civil War, nor have they been for many years. It would be absurd if they were. This period of our history is gradually moving out of living memory.
This statement is not correct. There are no ideological differences between the parties. Civil war politics is dogging our steps and holding us back from achieving some sense of maturity and sense in politics.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago and the Irish people voted overwhelmingly for Fine Gael. The same Fine Gael whose deputies agreed to abstain from voting to pass Fianna Fáil’s last budget. Fine Gael has the same austerity measures planned, to reduce the budget deficit to 3% by 2015. In fact, Fine Gael champions no change proposed to the universal social charge and more cuts in social welfare.
We voted for a party that has the same policies and ideology as the party that reduced the country into borrowing money from the IMF and EU. Perhaps the excising of Fianna Fáil will put an end to this type of politics. Perhaps we could even reform enough of our politics to become a democracy.
For now, we must “take the pain”, the bitter pill that sends a thousand of our young people a week to seek their fortunes elsewhere; that cuts the social welfare of vulnerable people; that squeezes every drop of blood from small businesses; and all because the gambling debts of the banks were added to sovereign debt and because our EU partners are profiteering off our misery.