Kenny more preoccupied with what can’t be done than what can

The tradition of the first 100 days of Government was dreamed up by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the early 1930s when he set out an agenda for the first three months and ten days of his administration.

These were all the things he was going to do in that crucial window or time, to help the bloodstream of the United States economy – spectacularly coagulated by the 1929 Wall Street Crash – flow again.

Roosevelt came into government during a deep damaging recession, and the first 100 days ruse was a master-stroke to show his determination to lift the US out of that depression.

There has been hardly a new government since then that has rejected the yardstick of the first 100 days. This will be where we set out our stall, they say. This is how we will start and how we will intend to go on, they shout.

As time has gone on it has been hijacked by the marketeers to render it meaningless. It’s now become cat nip for the parties in Government and for the media, who use it as some kind of great first test for the new administration.

The Programme for Government contains about fifteen ‘first 100-day’ commitments, and another five or so in the short side-deal between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

The imperatives arising from the big election issues such as suspending water charges; a housing and homelessness initiative. It also includes promises that reflected the new political realities such as the new budgetary process, where a new Budget committee has been set up to decide the Budget.

There are also concessions to the Independent Alliance such as the scrapping of special areas of conservation on 46 raised bogs and commitments for an early report on the feasibility of the western rail corridor.

But ironically, the first 100 days has been all about what Fine Gael could not do in government, rather than what it could.

Indeed for most of that time, there were lingering doubts as to whether or not the first 100 days of this Government might also be the last 100 days of this Government.

Running a Government 20 shy seats of a majority might be the norm in Scandinavia, but it has been a novel experience here.

The reality is that Fine Gael has been like a clipped eagle since May, unable to assert its own identity or to impose its vision or ideals on the Government.

It’s not all Fine Gael’s fault. It simply doesn’t have the numbers. These days it’s all about deals and compromises.

Ironically if you look at the team on paper, it’s the most right-of-centre government in the history of the State. There’s no Labour Party to temper the low taxes and law-and-order of Fine Gael. And two of the three senior Ministers – Denis Naughten and Shane Ross – are both of Fine Gael stock.

Barring a catastrophe (and that could come in the form of a series of poor polls), Kenny will remain in situ for another year at least, before handing over the reins.

What it has singularly failed to do since coming into power is to call anybody’s bluff. Every time it has been threatened by the Opposition or its own Independents, it has capitulated.

If the party continues to do that, it will have no credibility. It needs to hang tough on its fundamental issues or else it will be seen as a weak proxy for Fianna Fáil.

For more political analysis from Harry see this week’s Tribune here