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Euro elections: Why you should vote for Fianna Fáil
Read more about: Comment, Fianna Fail 
This is the last in a series of posts from party members. The equivalent posts from Fine Gael, the Green Party and the Labour Party can be found here.
Conor Reidy is a postgraduate law student at University College Cork, former chairman of Donogh O’Malley Cumann at U.C.C. and Munster representative on executive of Ógra Fianna Fáil.
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In March 1972 then Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil, Jack Lynch, moved a motion before Dáil Éireann in favour of the white paper on The Accession of Ireland to the European Communities. He proclaimed that Ireland stood:
“at a most important crossroads in our history. The road we take will determine not only the future of our country for generations to come, but also the contribution we make to the creation of a Europe that will measure up to the ideals of the founders of the Community.”
It was a bold move for its time, opposed by parties such as Labour and Sinn Féin, yet time has ultimately justified the move towards accession by Mr. Lynch and his government. The European Union has ultimately proven an overwhelmingly positive influence on Irish life, shaping our social and economic policies and moving us from a nation at the absolute periphery of Europe to a proud nation whose influence stretches far beyond our borders.
The radical affect which the European Union has had upon our small nation cannot be over-emphasised, a considerable volume of our laws emanate from regulations and directives ratified in Brussels, amending our laws on everything from consumer protection to employee’s rights. An immense number of infrastructural projects from the construction of roadways to the upgrading of bus and rail stations have been wholly or partially funded with E.U. backing, the Common Agricultural Policy has contributed enormously to the lives of our farming population and the benefits of free, open trade and the unhindered movement of people amongst 27 member nations can be witnessed every day.
Fianna Fáil offers the electorate a team of candidates both highly respected within European institutions, Brian Crowley M.E.P. being recognised as an important voice within the European Parliament, and extremely experienced in resolving issues at all levels of national government, Pat “The Cope” Gallagher and Ned O’Keeffe having served as Ministers and representing their respective constituencies in the Dáil for successive terms.
National opinion polls indicate Fianna Fáil shall face into this election with the lowest support rate in decades. To deny that there is considerable anger amongst the electorate would be to ignore reality, there is a genuine fear gripping many voters, ordinary people who fear where there next pay cheque shall come from, who worry if they can cover that next mortgage payment, whose concern for their children’s future is a concern felt by families across the nation. However we must look at certain realties, we live in a time in which the entire world has suffered considerable economic turmoil, Ireland is certainly not alone in its experience of economic growth coming to a staggering halt. Many factors which contributed to this recession were simply beyond the control of the Irish government.
Has Fianna Fáil made mistakes? Undoubtedly. Ask any party member and the fiasco surrounding the proposed withdrawal of medical cards to the elderly will come to the fore, but this was quickly rectified and the party has demonstrated a commitment to making the painful decisions necessary to restore confidence in our economy, without harming society’s most vulnerable, and put our national budget back on a sound footing.
The Fianna Fáil manifesto for the European Election outlines the agenda which our Members of the European Parliament shall pursue over the next five years if elected and those policies which they have supported in recent years. These include committing to an energy policy that tackles climate change with large investment in renewable energy, reducing the red tape that strangles small business and supporting transnational legal frameworks that seek to combat the scourges of organised crime and international drug trafficking.
It is difficult for ordinary people to develop an interest in the intricacies of European Union politics, the means by which laws are made is complex and confusing, the media ignores the majority of developments within the Parliament itself and unconvincing campaigns by all political parties, including Fianna Fáil, in backing reform treaties such as Lisbon and Nice have only served to further alienate the populace from the founding ideals of the European Union. We must urgently address this apathy and seek to emphasise the sheer influence the union has had upon the everyday lives of our citizens.
Some voters shall certainly seek to punish Fianna Fáil for our domestic policies, this is perfectly understandable, but I hope that the majority of those who go to polling stations across the nation on June 5th shall remember some simple points – Ireland is at its strongest at the heart of Europe, our nation’s future return to economic prosperity is dependent on representatives passionate for a strong union, committed to a Europe of open borders where business can operate freely and fairly. For 36 years Fianna Fáil Members of the European Parliament have supported these principles and secured strong deals Ireland, this will never change.
Conor, an eloquent exposition on why we should vote FF.
I think however the words of another Fianna Failer, actually Brian Cowen, will best sum up how Ireland will vote tomorrow and in the next GE – they feel its time “to get a handle on it” cause the people of Ireland know “all those fu*kers” and probably wont vote for a party which relies on ëurope is good” and we were in power when we joined so its our doing.
In a nod to electors’ fury you acknowledge FF has made mistakes. Then you cite the budget screw up over medical cards. After 12 years in power FF’s way of admitting its mistakes is to point out how an aspect of crisis budget was ineptly handled. The trouble is that the electorate knows that FF took critical strategic decisions which caused our economic ship of state to crash terribly onto the rocks.
True, they didn’t create the financial storm, but they were central to dismantling our ability to deal with it when it came:
Which party was the major part of government when the shambolic regulatory regime was set up in 2002? FF. That it was not fit for purpose is not a new discovery – many people at the time argued that it was too close to the banking sector and should not have been linked to the Central bank. (Charlie McCreevy was still, rather pathetically, defending this regulatory framework when I challenged him on the issue as the financial crisis was breaking last October).
Which party slashed away our tax base so that we were utterly reliant on stamp duty, capital gains, and other volatile and boom-dependent taxes? FF.
Which party was intricately linked with the large developers that lobbied for all kinds of tax breaks to keep on building when the whole world new that we were building six times more houses per head as the UK? FF.
Which party had the health minister who pledged in his strategy of 2001 “By the end of 2004, no public patient will wait more than 3 months”? FF’s Michael Martin.
Which party has presided over a health system – let’s not have scapegoats, Mary Harney is in Health at the pleasure of the Taoiseach – which after a decade and a half of unprecedented prosperity, is still unreformed, underperforming, and unfit for purpose? FF.
None of these horrendous legacies were mistakes. They were deliberate policies and were sustained very often to either placate a vested interest or, the converse, for fear of having to confront or challenge a vested interest. I say again: not mistakes, just pulling the political levers in ways that ruined the nation or its ability to care for its citizens.
Yes there were mistakes too. Like e-voting or PPARs. But alas, where mistakes were made no admissions of accountability followed. The same old inept hands were kept firmly on the wheel.
And which party sat back for a number of years as its leader bogged down deeper and deeper into the mire of tall tales on funding and bailouts. As he sank so did the standing of our political system, and huge damange has been wrought on our democracy. And as this saga drew to a close, it was allowed to cripple Europe’s refrom project in the Lisbon treaty where all and sundry recoginse that FF ran a belated, half-hearted, and inept campaign (remember Caughlan on the commissioners, McCreevy on reading the Treaty etc).
No, the other parties may not have recent track records in government. But FF have proven their sustained ineptness, proven an amazing contempt for the welfare of ordinary citizens, proven their disregard of democratic fundamentals such as transparency, accountability, and integrity, proven their affinity for certain vested interests and their fear of others.
So anyone, almost anyone, deserves a vote before FF.
Reasonable effort by Mr. Reid, of course he mentions Jack lynch within the first sentence, The man who presided over the 1977 manifesto which effectively raped Irish Local Government and left whats left of it to the mercy of gombeen pols to line their own pockets vis a vis corrupt planning(not just from FF admittedly). So thats not a good start.
Then citing Crowley as ‘an important voice’ in th European parliament is humourous, is he an important voice because he was VP or whatever of the UEN group, home to many undesirable elements of fascists & bigots?. Not that it matters because our Brian fancies the Aras so Ned O Keefe wil be co-opted into Europe. Wonderful, thats just What Munster needs, a Pol so in thrall to the Farmers lobby and yes men to the worst excesses of CAP. At least The cope has the fisherman to rely on.
400k unemployed.
Failure of the entire banking system.
Unprecedented levels of political corruption, cronyism & nepotism.
Implosion of the Irish economy.
This is why you should vote.