Six things to consider about Seanad Reform.

1. The vast majority of Seanad reformers quite fancy being senators. I don’t blame them, so do I. But let’s be honest about it.

2. Most of the stuff about parliamentary scrutiny is twaddle. How many times has the Seanad ever fought the government?

3. If the Seanad is so good, why is it that no party leader since Garrett has deemed a single one of his senators worthy of being a cabinet minister? Not one! It means that abolition, for the most part, will only remove politicians of a secondary calibre, as decided by the party leaders themselves.

4. The 2004 reforms, which were stalled by the same people who now regard them as vital, were a great idea. In 2004. Now, they’re just a last throw of the dice.

5. Many “reformers” seem to want to take abolition off the table, THEN discuss reform. What’s the likelihood that those discussions will run for decades? Let them put those reforms to the people first, and if they are rejected, then we can vote on abolition. 

6. The biggest reform does not require a referendum. Just pass a law to allow each Dail elector to be a Seanad elector to an appropriate panel as in article 18.7 of the constitution. Let each citizen choose which panel they wish to affiliate to, and overnight we will have a directly elected vocational Seanad, wiping out the councillor electorate. Pass a law to do this, and open up the nominating process, and I’ll vote to retain.

And they could not tell which was which.

Fair play to Clare Daly.

I’m not a fan of Clare Daly or her politics, and I’m very much on the fence about abortion, but well done the deputy for Dublin North for putting down a private member’s bill on abortion, as mentioned here. This needs to be debated, and I’m looking forward to the gutless bastards who make up a sizable proportion of our Dail scurrying for cover and trying to avoid having to, you know, take a legislative position on a piece of legislation, which will be a novelty. I’m also looking forward to the stance of Labour and Sinn Fein deputies. Labour will try to pull the “we’re voting no because the government will be introducing its own legislation” card, but they should have their cards marked on this, because I doubt FG will ever allow a government bill, and so for most Labour TDs, it will be a fact that the only time they ever voted on abortion, it was against. As for the shinners, it will be fascinating to watch their left wing urban consciences battling against their rural conservative consciences.

By the way, pro-lifers should welcome this bill, if only because it’ll allow them to see who their real friends are. I don’t agree with conservative Catholics on a lot, but they are as entitled to have their voices in the Dail as anyone else. It’s all well and good FF and FG deputies and  senators waving their pro-life credentials around in private, let’ s see them do it in public.

Will it be divisive? Of course it will be, and it should be. That’s what parliaments are for. They don’t call a vote in a parliament a “division” for nothing, you know. 

The Irish love of powerlessness.

Let Nucky do it!

I have started watching the much acclaimed “Boardwalk Empire” and have been enjoying it.
One aspect of it which struck me was the fact that the main character, Nucky Thompson, a local
county politician, actually has power. He has to intereact with other politicians, senators, governors, mayors, etc, but it is all about men (it is set in 1920) with power doing deals.
It reminded me of that curious aspect of Irish society, how powerlessness is wallowed in by Irish people, almost taking a masochistic pleasure in our helplessness. Just think about how the people of Scotland are debating power, or how the Basques or Catalonia regard taking control of their countries as being the first step in shaping their lives.Watch any US political drama and see politicians at all levels of office with the power to order things.

Now look at the Irish. In recent times we have had people complain about septic tanks, local hospitals, property taxes, water taxes, and cuts in local services. Yet hardly ever during this debate, despite whinging about the EU, IMF, and “dem up in Dublin”, has there ever been a serious political drive by counties or regions to take control of their own affairs.

Take county councils. Most county councillors complain vocally about having no power. Most county councillors are members of Fine Gael. Which party is leading the government, and has the most seats in parliament? Yet Fine Gael councillors aren’t rebelling in huge numbers at their alleged powerlessness. The truth is, self empowerment is not a big issue in Ireland because large numbers of Irish people don’t like taking responsibility, and it manifests itself in weird ways.
Witness the ding dong that happens about how tough enforcement of drink driving laws discriminates against rural areas. Maybe it does. But where are the local TDs and councillors in Fine Gael (and FF before them.) actually demanding legislation to allow for local councils to decide their own drinking arrangements, their own closing times and own enforcement regimes?
If the people of Mattie McGrath’s constituency do not regard septic tank polluted water as being a big issue, let them vote to permit faeces in their drinking water, with the national government merely ensuring that outsiders (like tourists) know that water in Tipperary is similar to that in say, Somalia, and that if Tipperary poisons another county’s water then Tipperary taxpayers get fined to clean it. Give them that power. It’s their county, and their water, shit free or not.

Ten things about Irish politics that haven’t changed in twenty years.

The cynics amongst us often say that nothing ever changes in Irish politics. It isn’t true. Change does happen in Ireland, just very slowly. Having said that, here are ten things that haven’t changed from the day I first entered active politics in the 1991 local elections.

1. Bizarrely, people still vote for opposition politicians who promise them less painful solutions to current problems.

2. Most Irish elections (local, European, presidential) still don’t matter that much to Irish life.

3. Individual politicians still talk about political reform as if it has nothing to do with them.

4. Abortion and neutrality are still issues that we refuse to confront directly.

5. Local government is still primarily a crèche for aspiring Dail candidates, with opposition parties calling for something to be done about the power of county managers, and governments giving them more power.

6. The dominant political party in the country is still a moderate conservative party that believes in minimal change.

7. Politicians still insist upon avoiding changing the social welfare system in such a way as to allow citizens to get their entitlements directly, despite the availability of technology to allow it. Who gets a TD to help them book a flight online?

8. Most Irish politicians still spend their time calling for other people to make decisions, and regard it as a good day’s work.

9. Demanding a full scale comprehensive review is still regarded as a policy.

10. The oddest things still become big issues, like septic tanks. Remember the rod licence? Or TV deflectors? Or breeding bitches? Meanwhile the big issues like billion euro bank bailouts rumble on untouched.

An Occasional Guide to Irish Politics: The establishment “anti-establishment” journalist.

He touts himself as a straight talker, man of the people and enemy of the establishment. Except when he’s working for RTE or the biggest media groups in the country. On the radio, he’s scathing of public figures until they appear on the show, where the sound of him performing fellatio upon them can be quite stomach churning. And don’t let him talk to anyone vaguely famous from across the water: He’ll pull that “You and I have been long enough in this game…” lark in a nauseous attempt to put himself on an equal standing with people who have no idea who he is.    
In short, his slogan should be quite simply: I say the establishment disgusts me, but I have my price. Which is probably a good thing, given the amount of Columbian marching powder he vacuums up on a weekly basis. His anti-establishment credentials are best summed up by the theme of an ad that once appeared in a newspaper for a phone sex line: “I’m not gay, but I think the guy sucking my cock might be.”

What if…Ireland had joined the Allies in World War ll?

The 1st Irish Free State division wades ashore on Omaha beach, June 6, 1944.

They buried Eamonn De Valera on the 1st October 1943, nearly two weeks after the car crash on the Rock road, Blackrock, which had claimed the life of both the Taoiseach and his Garda driver. Given his iconic status in the political pantheon of the Free State, the Minister for Supplies and de facto successor, Sean Lemass, had delayed the traditional swift burial to allow for a ceremony more befitting “the chief.”
Over a quarter of a million people turned up to pay their respects as the procession made its way from the Pro-Cathedral to Glasnevin, and two days later, the Fianna Fail parliamentary party met and anointed the young 44 year old minister as Taoiseach.
A week after his election as Taoiseach, Lemass was visited by the US ambassador. The visit was perfunctory, the diplomat visiting to pass on the respects of President Roosevelt. As they spoke, the ambassador, who was well briefed as to the differences in outlook between De Valera and his young protégé, decided to take a gamble. By pure coincidence, he had on his person copies of OSS briefing documents outlining allied intelligence on the concentration camps. Lemass read them, asked questions about their veracity, and then opened a discussion with the ambassador about the post-war situation. The world was waiting for the invasion of France, and that, in tandem with the German reversals on the Eastern front, meant that the war was going to end, and Nazi Germany was going to be defeated. On top of that, it was becoming very clear that the United States was going to be the dominant power in the world. Lemass then changed the subject entirely, and spoke about the challenges facing a tiny, newly independent nation like Ireland, and its place in the world.
Read more…

The self pity of the Irish.

If Breda O’Brien had any more hoary old chestnuts in this piece in today’s Irish Times, she could have held a conkers convention. I don’t often agree with her, as she holds more traditional conservative views than mine, but I also recognise that holding conservative views does not mean you should be denied a voice either.  However, today’s piece does a neat job in summing up almost every unattractive trait that exists in the Irish psyche, which is quite an achievement.

Firstly, she declares that by being denied access to the European Stability Mechanism (the bailout fund) if we vote No (that is, refuse to obey its rules) we are being “bullied by an elite”. Just think about that for a moment. Angela Merkel is pushing this fiscal pact because she has to convince her voters that their money is being spent wisely, and that they’ll get it back. Does that make all 82 million Germans, worried about their money, a bullying elite? Is Germany not a democracy too? Or do Germans not really count as people too?

She then goes on to talk about how voters need to be better informed. Seriously? Having campaigned in a number of referenda, I can tell you that the dirty secret of Irish politics on that old one is not a lack of information, but a refusal of voters to actually read it. I have stood at doors with voters who have denied getting any information, until I pointed out the referendum commission booklet actually sitting on their hall table. What more can we do?

Breda then says that the fiscal pact with prevent Keynesian measures in a recession. No it won’t, provided countries built up a sensible reserve in the good times. Is that really such a bad idea?

Finally, out comes the old gun to the head routine. This is the self pitying aspect that most saddens me, the Irish, once again, as pathetic victim scrabbling in the dirt. There is no gun. We can vote No, and it will be accepted. And no, don’t start the “they’ll make us vote again” crack, because they don’t make us do anything. The Irish people were asked again before, by the Irish people, and they had the opportunity to vote No again, and they didn’t. That’s the thing though, isn’t it? That if the Irish vote Yes, they are being bullied, but if they vote No, it’s the legitimate voice of the people. Some animals are more equal than others, apparently.

Why the Irish Government really doesn’t want a referendum on the fiscal compact.

It can be a ballot box or a can of petrol. It’s our call.

There is a phrase used in Ireland, “codding ourselves”. I’m unsure as to whether it is used elsewhere, but it basically means that someone is knowingly deluding themselves, usually out of a dislike of the reality. It is a very common practice in Ireland, regarded, in fact, as a daily way of life, especially in Irish politics.

Now, consider the current bunfight going on over the possibility of a referendum on the EU fiscal compact. The government does not want to hold one, because it might lose, and governments don’t like uncertainty. The truth is, the government is afraid that the Irish people might make the wrong choice. But they won’t admit that they don’t want to hold one, instead making legal arguments about the constitution.

Now, when someone like me, on the pro-EU side of the aisle, makes a remark about the people being wrong, there’s normally uproar. The people can do no wrong, won’t be patronised, etc, etc. It is bollocks. Of course the people can do wrong, especially if, as always happens in Ireland, a substantial section of the electorate A) decide to vote not for what is on the ballot paper but what they think should be on the ballot paper, ie the local hospital, property taxes, bank bailouts, Uncle Tom Cobley and all, or B) refuse to believe that the rest of Europe will not save Ireland no matter how reckless we decide to be.

That’s why the government want to avoid a vote. Because we do have a choice. This is a referendum on the bailout too, and the government is afraid that the voters will pour petrol over our house, toss a match at it, and then look proudly at our neighbours as our house burns down.

The others can go on without us, and what happens then? Will the Irish people then turn to the government that agreed to the referendum and thank them for the opportunity to torch the gaff? No, they’ll start screaming at the government about the fact that our house has burnt down, and where are we going to live now? It actually makes more sense to just ignore the usual “undemocratic” jibes and carry on. After all, if Irish political history is anything to go by, they’ll be forgotten in six months. The house will still be there.

Having said that, if the Supreme Court or the Attorney General or even the Oireachtas (yeah, that band of brave heroes) decides that we have to vote, fair enough. The law’s the law. But let’s be honest about it at least, rather than denying that the government wants to avoid a vote. 

What that Sunday Business Post poll really tells us.

The Sunday Business Post poll last Sunday has been poked and prodded by the usual suspects. As you are probably aware, it came up with the following figures: Fine Gael 30%, Labour 14%, Fianna Fail 18%, Sinn Fein 17%, Independents and Others (including Green Party at 3% and Socialist Party at 1%) 20%.
Reading them, I came to a different conclusion as to where the Irish people are politically at this moment, if you take their voting preferences and match them not to who they are voting for, but what they are voting for. Look at it this way:
Broad moderate conservative status quo (FF,FG, and say, half the independent vote): 58%
Slightly lefty but not too much of that Swedish taxes stuff (Labour): 14%
Radical let’s try something that sounds new but probably isn’t going by their record in the North (SF): 17%
Genuinely radical (Green,Socialist, some independents): 11%
Whatever way you look at it, even during the biggest crisis in the history of the state, the Irish people are still very, very conservative.