Normal Service Resumes Shortly

Phew! At last I can return to a normal existence. Having done my bit for the country, I can revert to my normal diet of pointless self-examination. But some quick thoughts before I kick Election 2007 to the kerb.

It is quite humbling and very impressive to see so many people put themselves through the election process. Regardless of their political leanings, I have a new found respect for them all. Everyone seemed gracious in defeat or magnanimous in victory. Shame the same couldn’t be said about their local party workers. Can we introduce a new rule that says when your candidate gets elected he (for it invariably is) should under no circumstances be hoisted aloft like some incongruous footballing hero. I didn’t see one candidate look comfortable in his grey suit being held precariously by four equally grey, doddery old fools. Put the man down and let him at least pretend to be somewhat statesmanlike.

I thought that I’d be delighted to see Michael McDowell crushed again. But I was surprised at how sorry I felt for him and his family. It is hardly a surprise that he took the result so personally. This is the problem with conviction politicians. But Michael, I suppose Bill Clinton said it right. “You can’t say you love your country and hate your government!”. But my disappointment was tempered by the more outrageous de-seating of Joe Higgins. Some things are just not fair - like Cyprian Brady getting elected with less than 1,000 first preference votes when Mary Lou had a plunging neck line and a nice choker.

Reviewing how I wrestled with my decision, I’m not surprised atall by the election results. I could never find a good reason why change was going to be so good. The FG ‘contract’ was a stupid play that hamstrung Enda more than I think people will concede. He should also lay off the “I’m so confident that I’m the right man” routine which fools no-one. Instead, he should quietly accept that he has every right to being Taoiseach and then act like he is. Then no-one would need to be convinced, especially himself. Labour’s ‘we want a change in government’ line was a none too subtle signalling that a FF/Lab government could be presented as a change in government. The number of women representatives in the next Dail will be even less that the pathetic percentage of the outgoing Oireachtas.

PR has an inherent fault in that it promotes division and coalitions become inevitable. As a country we were in danger of becoming like the Italian democracy. When the Labour party split again and possibly Fine Gael, our rainbow alternative could end up comprising 7 or 8 colours from a diverse gene pool. So it was important that the two main parties made gains or held their own to stop the increasing fragmentation. It would be best for the Labour party to pass on the option of becoming FF lapdog ‘cos as the PD’s can testify they’ll end up being the losers in the next election. The landscape is right of a realignment of the ‘left’ or at least social democrats to provide a viable alternative to the market-forces politics of both main parties.

A real result would be if FF in the national interest reappointed Mary Harney as Minister for Health in a FF/PD/Green coalition. This would have the advantage of being a sufficient majority for some tough action to be taken against the vested interest that are Doctors and Nurses. Radical reform of the health service could be achieved. Of course that won’t happen, because FF don’t have the national interest at heart and our democracy wouldn’t thank them even if they did.

It was particularly nice to see the Irish Times being found out for what it really is - the paper of the upper class minority record. Having had the information since last October, it ran a drip feed campaign designed to undermine FF’s only real asset - Bertie. For 10 days, it ran the election agenda. Unfortunately, it mis-calculated several things. Irish people don’t mind when someone is taken down a peg or two but it gets quite indignant when you continually kick a man when he’s down. The smear campaign prevented any rigorous critique of FF policy and galvanised its supporters to get out and vote. The attention on Betie took the necessary spotlight of Enda Kenny until both he and Bertie debated together. Not surprisingly, Bertie has more experience in tv debates. Despite what the papers wrote, Enda got his ass kicked and it is a testament to his hard work and like-ability that he did so well electorally.

I’m pleased that so many people got engaged with the election - there are clearly lots of practical problems (Thursday vote, ropey register, constituency boundaries) - but it is healthy that so many people took the trouble to decide. For this reason alone, the country got the correct result and unlike what the Irish Times might say, getting the government you deserve is no bad thing for a democracy.

Final word of salute to those boys and gals of IrishElection.com. You guys are the best and it was refreshing that, unlike our main broadcaster, you didn’t mistake speed of result for intelligence of thought. Way to go!

Enough already,
Paige