Political World
Greens may be naïve – but they should still have a role to play in Irish politics
World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com
The contrast between a party on the rise and a party in the doldrums can be easily gauged by its national conference – as evidenced from the contrasting experiences of Sinn Féin and the Greens.
The Sinn Féin conference in Wexford was held in the snazzy Opera House and attended by almost 2,000 delegates. It had its star turns – Gerry and Martin and Mary Lou and Pearse – and all its Euro election and local election candidates were paraded for the live television coverage. The large media presence flocked everywhere the party celebs went.
In contrast the attendance at the Greens in Dublin was like a medium sized wedding – the headcount for party leader Eamon Ryan’s speech was about 150.
There were only two journalists there for most of the day and there the only live coverage was the tweets being posted by delegates (and they had a tiny audience because the conference clashed with the Italian rugby game).
And so we witnessed a relatively regular phenomenon in Irish politics – the slick presentation of a party on the rise and the more gritty efforts of a minor party, for which every debate is a soul-searching one.
The Green Party is relatively unusual in Ireland in that it seeks allegiance primarily on its ideas and policies, and not for historical, tribal or geographical reasons.
As such, they were – and will always be – niche, even though it will argue that its so-called ‘niche’ policies should be the core principles for any society: confronting climate change; promoting sustainability, ensuring a clean society and clean environment.
But what remains nice about the Greens is that there is still a Don Quixote like naivety to them at times, a wish that everybody veers towards a utopian outlook. There has always been a split in the party between the ‘realos’ (realists) and the fundies (fundamentalists).
At its recent conference there was a motion that no TD should be allowed serve more than two terms, among other things to ensure people have clean hands and are doing it for the right reasons.
But it was overwhelmingly defeated by a party with a fair share of ‘realos’, who recognised that experience is necessary, and that limiting a TD’s career to two terms would favour those with means at their disposal.
What was also good was that the absence of TV cameras (and then need to preen to the nation) meant that the quality of debates and interchange was much better than at other conferences… though, having manageable numbers does help.
The other thing about Green politics in Ireland is that it goes in and out of vogue. Greens tend to do better when the economy is at its height, as voters are not as obsessed with economic policies. And the pendulum swings the other way during recessions, although the underlying rationale just doesn’t vanish.
The best example of that was the 1991 local elections. A 21-year-old Trinity student Sadhbh O’Neill got elected for the party on Dublin City Council. And what was noteworthy about her election was that she never canvassed. She was in the US on a J1 visa when the election took place.
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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