Political World
Sinn Féin look set to be the big winners in our patched-up European constituency
World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com
One of the things I have never been able to understand about American professional sport is the concept of the moveable franchise.
There was a baseball team that was based in New York that were known as the Brooklyn Dodgers. A commercial decision by its owners saw the team transfer to the west coast to become the LA Dodgers. You wonder what the fans who had followed the team in Brooklyn do – did they remain loyal even though the franchise had moved 3,000 miles or did they begin supporting another New York team.
On this side of the Atlantic, such a stunt would be unthinkable. In Britain, some of its professional football teams have been global brands but there is still an iron-clad connection with the place where they originated. Over here in Ireland, sense of place is cemented more rigidly still into the public consciousness – if you are born in Mayo, it is highly unlikely you will be spotted wearing a Supermacs geansaí anytime soon.
I have huge difficulties with the manner in which the four European constituencies were carved into three ‘super constituencies’. The Dublin constituency is an acceptable compromise. A third of the population live there. You get a sense of its geography, that it is a logical entity. As for the other two, it’s just bunkum. The South and East consists of ten counties – the five of Munster and five from south Leinster. And then there is Midlands North-West which has all the organisation and consistency and logic of a blob of goo.
Here we have fifteen counties from three provinces. Sure Ireland is a small country. But still it just does not make sense. There might be a marginal case for including Longford on the basis of it once being half of the Longford-Roscommon constituency. But even then it was an unhappy and heterogenous alliance. Albert Reynold’s chief fixer Mickey Doherty pointed to the River Shannon as being the Berlin Wall between both sides of the constituency. His famous description of it was: “Votes don’t swim”.
There might be a marginal case also for Offaly, which at least borders Galway. But what about Meath, Louth, Kildare and Laois. Why not throw in Wexford, the Isle of Man and Rockall while we are at it.
The Greens had a suggestion – and it was shared by others – that Ireland should be treated as a single constituency with the 11 seats decided in a national contest. That, to me, would be an attractive option and would mark the European elections out as different and distinct from other elections. I’m sure there would be a fair geographic spread of candidates and each would have a mandate of representing Ireland, not a strange amalgam of random counties that you have difficulty getting your head around.
The decision is made and we have to live with it. Midlands North West. It does exactly what it says on the tin. Confuses. Exasperates. Muddles up!
In any instance, it will still give us an election. And if there is one thing about a popularity contest, it will always attract interest and intrigue, even if it’s for the chair of the local residents’ association.
Even without the senseless new constituency arrangement, a European election is harder to predict than general elections. The reason is slightly counterintuitive. It’s because so darned little hangs on them. Unlike a general election, where the people is choosing who they would prefer to run the country, Europe remains a topic of spectacular boredom and intense indifference to most people.
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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