Political World
Albert Reynolds – a man of peace and man of risks
World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com
There was a marked contrast between this week’s State Funeral for former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and the last one, that for his predecessor as Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey.
Haughey was buried with the full military honours accorded to a former Taoiseach but his death in 2006 came at a time when his star had – to put it mildly – waned.
With all the Tribunal revelations about his personal finances – and the live allegation, never really proven, that he had dipped into the funds raised for Brian Lenihan Senior’s liver transplant – he was persona non grata to all but the most ardent Fianna Fáil supporter.
There’s a televised drama on Haughey set to be released this season. And certainly within Fianna Fáil there has been an attempt to revive some parts of the reputation of this very complex, convoluted and tainted politician. Delivering a fierce apologia at his graveside Bertie Ahern (who has also fallen by the wayside since then) argued that posterity would be kinder to Haughey’s achievements.
That remains to be seen – but don’t hold your breath.
Reynolds was different. He had been no stranger to controversy during his career. And he had some very notable achievements to his name, principally the Downing Street Declaration. Yet, he never made the same impact as some of his illustrious forbears or successors. He didn’t have the charisma of Haughey or the populism of Bertie. He wasn’t a particularly engaging speaker. His tenure as leader of Fianna Fáil and as taoiseach was really short – less than three years.
In the 20 years since he resigned as Taoiseach, Reynolds – like his British counterpart at the time John Major – had just become a little forgotten about. Of course, Alzheimer’s had taken an increasing grip in recent years, removing Reynolds from the public eye.
So it was nice to see this week that the public amnesia was not a permanent one, that many of Reynolds best achievements were remembered. It was also nice to see that sports supporters – often the most cynical – were very respectful to his memory at the All Ireland semi-final in Croke Park last Sunday. I couldn’t imagine Haughey or Ahern getting the same treatment.
There were some very good pieces and assessment written about Albert in the last week and I’ll focus for a second on just two in my own paper, The Irish Times, each given a different perspective. The former journalist and newscaster Sean Duignan was Reynolds’ press secretary when he was Taoiseach and his book on those two and a half years – One More Spin on the Merry Go Round – is among the finest books on Irish politics ever written.
He gave a very perceptive summation of Reynolds whose disposition was essentially that of a gambler. Politicians are cautious by nature and prefer taking the path of least resistance when making a decision. Look at Obama’s wavering this summer and you see the classic case of a politician paralysed by all the negative permutations that might flow from taking a tough and unpalatable decision.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
Academically, politics is described as a science. But in the real world, it’s more of an art – and one of the big decisions a Government has to make is to decide when to call an election.
Will they see out the full term, or will they go early – either to mitigate the damage they will ship, or to secure a victory before things go awry, or the economy takes a dip, or some kind of controversy erupts?
Timing is everything.
And there’s a bit of art to that – not to mention a lot of luck. If you call it early and win big, you’re a genius. If you call it early and lose, you are the political version of the village fool.
Charlie Haughey was a poor judge of the public mood. Twice he called snap elections and on both occasions they backfired. Haughey succeeded Jack Lynch as Taoiseach in late 1979 and did not – technically – have his own mandate. He tried to remedy that by calling an election in 1981. But it recoiled. Ray MacSharry warned him not to hold it during the H Block hunger strikes when republican prisoners were dying each day. He did not listen to the advice and found himself out of office.
After his return to power in 1987, Haughey tired of presiding over a minority government that kept on losing votes in the Oireachtas (the opposition won nine private members motions).
So he called a snap general election and it backfired. Fianna Fáil lost seats and had to broker a coalition deal with the Progressive Democrats and his long-standing political adversary Dessie O’Malley.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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World of Politics with Harry McGee
I was cycling down Mount Street in Dublin on Tuesday. It’s a wide esplanade that links the Grand Canal with Merrion Square. The street is a mixture of fine Georgian buildings and modern office blocks.
About half-way down is the office of the International Protection Office, which deals with asylum seekers who have arrived in the country.
Needless to say, the office has been overwhelmed in the past year. Besides an estimated 80,000 refugees who have arrived from Ukraine, there have been about 20,000 people from other parts of the world who have arrived into Dublin (mostly) claiming asylum.
The numbers peaked around Christmas, but they have been falling a little. In January, more than 1,300 people arrived seeking asylum but the numbers fell back to 831 and 858, in February and March respectively.
They are still huge numbers in a historical context.
So back to my cycle on Tuesday. I knew that some asylum seekers were camping outside the International Protection Office, but I was taken aback by how many. There were six tents lined up on the pavement directly outside. Then on the ramp that led down to the basement carpark on the side of the building, there were about another 20 tents.
It looked like what it was, a refugee camp in the middle of Dublin’s business district. If you pan out from Mount Street, you will find tents here and there in nearby streets and alleys. There were a good few tents in an alleyway off Sandwith Street about 500 metres away.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
God that was a dramatic and historic weekend in England, wasn’t it? So much excitement, so much change, so much hype, so much out with the old and in with the new, and what looks like the coronation of a new leader. Yes, the local elections in Britain were something else weren’t they!
Apologies for not going on about King Charles III but the contract I signed when I became a lifelong republican forbids me to discuss the topic!
I know the British local elections sound a bit boring by comparison, but the results were stunning.
The Conservatives lost nearly 1,000 seats, the British Labour Party gained almost 500 and both the Lib Dems (with 350 gains) and the Greens (gaining over 200) also had amazing days at the polls.
It was Labour’s best day since 2002 but its victory was only partial. The Greens and the Lib Dems actually made gains at the expense of Labour in more affluent areas, and in parts of Britain where there were high numbers of graduates.
It was in the Red Wall constituencies in the North of England where the Labour recovery was strongest. These are working class constituencies with pockets of deprivation where people voted for the Labour Party forever. But all of those constituencies voted for Brexit and then voted for the Tories in the next general election. Labour is now winning back some of those votes.
Local elections are classified as second-tier elections which essentially means – from a national perspective – they are not life-or-death affairs, and not everything turns on them. Of course, it’s really important to have good local representation. But they are not an amazing weather vane for who rules the country.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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