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From the Inside: Seamus Ryan - A Vote For Sinn Fein Is A Vote For Fianna Fail?
Read more about: Column, Economy, Fianna Fail, Government, Irish Election, Sinn Féin
The Labour Party is seeking a mandate from the electorate based on its election strategy, which was adopted by the vast majority of delegates at Party Conference and clearly sets out our preference for government. Despite the recent polls, it won’t be until much closer to the election that we will see whether people accept this strategy as the best way forward.
I am on record as saying that I would prefer to see the Green Party involved in this proposed alternative government as I am not so sure the numbers are there between Labour and Fine Gael alone. However, the failure of other parties to treat the electorate with the same respect and to let us know their own thoughts regarding government must surely concern us all. Take Sinn Fein for example.
Now, whereas I am not inclined to spend too much time on the affairs of other parties, I can’t help but be concerned at the failure of the Sinn Fein leadership to rule out supporting a Fianna Fail administration. If you talk to Sinn Fein councillors or members of the party around the country, they will tell you that they won’t go into coalition with Fianna Fail but when you push them a little, they will admit to having no problem in supporting a minority Fianna Fail government, in the national interest of course! I can see Michael McDowell up the poles in Dublin again but this time with different posters.
Well, he can’t very well try to trick us a second time with “Single Party Government: No Thanks!” Rather, I think this time it might be “A Vote for Sinn Fein is a Vote for Fianna Fail.” Hmmm… now there’s a slogan for the forthcoming election. At their last Ard Fheis, Sinn Fein failed to rule out supporting Fianna Fail and this may yet come back to haunt them as I believe the public are waiting in the long grass to deliver a damning verdict on this tired Fianna Fail-led government and will not thank any party for keeping them in government.
It’s all about policy… or is it?
Over the coming months we will be inundated with policy documents from all political parties. These policy documents are the result of extensive focus group research by the army of researchers now occupying the offices of Leinster House. The electorate will be bombarded with facts and figures from the parties backing up their respective policy positions. But how relevant are these policy documents and how will they affect the outcome of the election?
If there is one thing we have learned over the last ten years is that most of these proposals and promises made prior to an election are not worth the paper they are written on. Remember the promise to put 2,000 extra Gardai on the streets of Ireland? Or what about the extra 200,000 medical cards we were promised prior to the previous election? I could go on…
This government in particular seems to suffer from selective amnesia when it comes to implementing the policy proposals it put to the electorate prior to the last election. Is it no wonder that the electorate has become disillusioned with politics and with political parties in particular?
Last week I made reference to the fact that the Labour Party has spent considerable time and effort in putting together a number of policy documents to put before the electorate over the coming months. Over the course of the election campaign we hope to persuade the electorate that our approach will be different to the current Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat government. Labour Party policies such as Better Policing for Safer Communities, Health Care: a New Direction towards Primary Healthcare, Scrapping Government Waste and Reaching Out: Caring for the Irish Abroad will be the backbone of the party’s election campaign and will be implemented by the party if we are part of the next government.
It’s the economy, stupid!
How often have we heard the saying “it’s the economy, stupid” where political commentators remind the politicians that the economy is the issue. It is also what Ahern, Cowen, McDowell et al would have us all believe must be the most important factor to government. Well, at a time of unprecedented wealth in the country, we must expect and demand more from our government of the day.
Our government must also deliver a caring society, a fair society, a society that is not just concerned with materialism and consumerism. Of course the economy must be central to any programme of government and as the Labour Party showed under Ruairi Quinn as Minister of Finance, it can be trusted with the economy. But what about quality-of-life issues? Now, there’s the challenge!
Looking at the latest polls the grass must be very long.
Remember the promise a few years ago that Labour and Fine Gael would come out with policies in 18 months can’t remember that. or the promise of Fine Gael to hit drunks in the pockets?
“A vote for Sinn Fein is a vote for Fianna Fail.”
What about “A vote for Labour is a vote for Fianna Fail”? Labour are not ruling out a coalition with Fianna Fail are they? Surely voters who don’t want FF in Govt should be made aware of this?
The only reason people are voting SF is because Labour-DL deserted working class areas like Tallaght for champagne socialism. They relied on people to vote Labour because they were still the most left wing party, forgetting that SF is an extremely socialist party and had the organisation to get people on the ground knocking on doors. When was the last time a major political party held an Ard Fheis in an area as deprived as Killenarden (sp?) in Tallaght as SF did some years back? (albeit because IIRC the Mansion House was denied to them)
I hate the Shinners but I admire the way they outflanked Labour by actually visiting and talking to poor people who Labour no longer finds useful.
I think that Mark is right - hardly a surprise I guess in view of what I post - once DL/Labour left the field it was inevitable that a newly scrubbed up post ceasefire PSF would manifest itself in the gap they, and particularly DL/WP, occupied.
But more to the point, with all due respect to Seamus Ryan, surely the fact that his party and FG have implicity ruled out coalition with SF invalidates his criticism of SF regarding their likelihood or not of supporting an FF government.
Any SF supporter would in that context presumably be well within their rights to ask what right he had to question any decision they took on their own terms for their own reasons.
Unless it’s simply fraternal advice…
An even more alarming thought is that a vote for Fianna Fail is a vote to bring Sinn Fein into Government here, as we have seen in the past Fianna Fail’s desperation and need to hold on to power at any cost would make their leap in to bed with Sinn Fein all the more likely.
Core values! Don’t make me laugh!
eh…who the fuck is Seamus Ryan???
I seemed to have opened a can of worms with this weeks column. Once again thank you for your comments, well most of them anyhow. In response to Simon the Labour Party has published a series of policy documents and these are available on the Labour Party website. Whereas you may not agree with these policies but to say that the Party has not published policies within the past 18 months is just not true. Regarding Damien’s comments about Labour not ruling out coalition with Fianna Fail, the Labour Party and Fine Gael for that matter are the only parties to rule Fianna Fail out of the equation. Limerick Lad is quite right in saying that Fianna Fail would do a deal with anyone including Sinn Fein to enter government. After all they did a deal with the arch enemy Dessie O’Malley to gain power. And as for Killian’s comments well I will leave others be the judge of the depth of your political knowledge!!
Play the Ball not the man Killian. The comment with the insult has been deleted.
Labour record on entering coalition has always been driven by pragmatism - nothing more, nothing less. This sort of article is just so boring and dishonest. Politicians pouting and preening in front of and with potential suitors, pretending they have certain standards that they assume others recognise. The grubby reality is that Labour, like all others of the bigger parties, are power sluts willing to bend policy, bottom lines and position for a chance at government.
The electorate also know this and so Labour attempt to scare people into voting for them to doomed to failure. I think the biggest shame with Ryan piece is its failure to say something positive, something fresh, something new. And also what I really want addressed before I decided is how are Labour going to solve the obvious policy contradictions with FG.
You see all the policy documents from Labour don’t really matter much. If as they claim that they will only go into govt with FG next time then the only policies documents that are worth reading are the ones they developed with FG.
Labour position on Iraq/Shannon, transport and privatisation, to name but a few, are meaningless as they are more than aware that large compromises will be have to made to accommodate FG if they jointly got into govt.
ESargeant, Thanks for the comment. You are quite right about one thing anyhow and that is that there are obvious policy contradictions between Labour and FG. Afterall we are two seperate parties with clear differences regarding areas such as Iraq/Shannon and privitsation to name but a few. But surely the art of coalition is the art of compromise. If the opportunity arises after the next election both parties will have to compromise on certain issues, otherwise we won’t have a government. The point I was making is that the Labour Party is setting out its stall well ahead of the election allowing the electorate to have a clear choice. You can be too cynical and look for the catch that is not there. I have been honest regarding my own opinion and that is that I would prefer a Labour/FG/Green alternative. I know that there are those in the Labour Party who wouldn’t agree with me on that but hey thats politics!!!
Thanks again for the comment.
But surely the art of coalition is the art of compromise. But surely the people have a right to have their voices heard. If they want a left wing government they should be able to vote for it. But when Labour goes in to government with Fine Gael at such an early stage they are compromising that stance. And instead get a vote for or against the government which is not what politics is about.
You see all the policy documents from Labour don’t really matter much. If as they claim that they will only go into govt with FG next time then the only policies documents that are worth reading are the ones they developed with FG.
That is my point about the lack of policies. Correct me if I am wrong but is the A&E he only joint one so far?
Ironic that it’s only recently that the last time a vote for Labour was a vote for FF (when they went into coalition) was a feature of the shortlived Dublin airport “scandal” where Brian Cowen was about to be bang to rights for favouring developers over Aer Rianta only for him to say “shure I only did what Ruairi Quinn asked me to”.
Simon, there is also Reaching Out - an agreed policy on Mental Health which I am sure you will agree that there has been no focus up to now. However I do take your point regarding policies and in my original post I was really asking the question as to how will these policies or lack of them affect the outcome of the election? I believe that over the next few months you will see other agreed policies. But considering we are still 8 months out from an election we are not doing too bad?
Fair enough simon, apologies.