Political World
Party strategy meetings tread water as voter anger gives way to indifference
World of Politics with Harry McGee
I’m writing this from Waterford where Fianna Fáil is holding its annual September strategy meeting – or think-in to use the more vulgarian but widely inaccurate term. In the past the parties have coordinated them so that none have been held on the same day and that each would have its news cycle.
And back then, they worked for weeks to come up with some policy or organisational announcement – an ‘eye-opening initiative’ as we love to call them – that would feed the news cycle.
But not anymore. Now their currency has been devalued. No Inchdoney Strategy. No criticism of decentralisation. No alternative budgetary strategies. Or party strategy papers – at least not for public consumption.
Everything that is of real merit is discussed in private. And what is given to the media is a well-gnawed bone.
So it was no great surprise to learn that all three major parties would hold their think-ins on the same day, on Monday of this week, two days before the return of the Dáil after the summer break.
Sure – Enda Kenny disclosed during his dinner to Fine Gael that the general election will not be held until March 2016….in other words the Government will go to its full term. That’s hardly a surprise given that governments with such a strong majority usually go for as long as possible.
What has happened to devalue these meetings so much? Well a combination of things. For one, the debacle of the Fianna Fáil think-in (or was it drink-in?) in 2010 did a fair bit of damage and spoiled the brand.
Fine Gael felt stung last year when the Daily Mail ran a cynical story bemoaning the fact that with the country in recession the party enjoyed a five-course meal. The reality was that the correspondent who wrote the story had no qualms about partaking fully in the meal, which was in fact a seven-course affair, but downgraded by the Mail to a five-course affair for nothing other than reasons of alliteration in the headline: Five Course Feast for Fine Gael. The Mail did a similar number at the Labour conference the following day.
So the parties have become wary of overselling or overhyping their events. The result is that they have become a husk, a shell of what they were before.
There are also the peculiar circumstances that pertain this year. Unlike other years, there are two major events which will take place within weeks of the Dail returning – the Seanad referendum on October 4 and the Budget on October 15.
Unsurprisingly, the main stories that emerged from all the meetings either concerned the referendum or the Budget. It was exactly the same at the Sinn Fein think-in last Friday week.
It is the private sessions of the meetings that are the most pertinent because it is there that TDs and Senators get a chance to discuss strategy for the forthcoming Dail term, voice their concerns or criticisms of policy or the leadership, and also plan for upcoming elections – and for now, the soonest are the local and European elections that take place next year.
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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