Better together

LAST Sunday, Bill O’Herlihy chose to use his position as speaker at the annual Béal na Bláth commemoration to suggest the political divisions that arose at the time of the Civil War should finally be left behind and lose their sway on modern Irish politics.

He publically stated what many people have felt privately for years, that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are essentially the same party in terms of policy and political outlook. His motivation appears to be the prospect of a Fianna Fáil/Sinn Féin coalition after the next election, which he described as a “disturbing and retrograde” prospect.

He is, of course, correct in his assertion that there exists very little difference between the two largest parties in Ireland from a policy point of view. Rather than holding to strong ideological positions on major issues, both hover around the middle ground, picking, choosing and leaning in one direction or the other depending on what way the wind is blowing. Ultimately, however, both are of a conservative ilk and, on an individual level, most of the TDs are indistinguishable from each other in their beliefs and policy stances.

I have argued this point before in these pages but despite fully agreeing with Mr O’Herlihy, I find myself suddenly frightened that the parties might actually consider merging. Practical common sense dictates that they should move on from historical gripes and unify but if they did, Ireland would become a one-party state for all intents and purposes. It was Mr O’Herlihy’s contention that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were the only parties who had earned the trust of the Irish people down through the years. Certainly, the two major parties have been taking it in turns to rule the country for many decades now but I’m not sure that they have gained the trust of the people. In particular, the last decade has seen trust breached on a massive scale.

Labour, although essentially peripheral, has also been implicated and stained through association. The Green Party is dead on its feet, thanks to its ill-advised coalition with Fianna Fáil, and I’m sure Labour party members feel the same fate is a possibility having leapt into bed with Fine Gael after the last election.

So both of the major parties swap power back and forth, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. If Fine Gael had been in power in the run-up to the global economic crisis, the result for Ireland would have been the very same. The nature of Irish political life would have seen the party follow the path chosen by Fianna Fáil almost to the letter. When Fine Gael were routed, as Fianna Fáil were in the aftermath of the catastrophe, the Soldiers of Destiny would have taken their mandate and blamed every problem on their predecessors.

Despite being rejected almost to the point of oblivion at the last election, Fianna Fáil are reaping the benefits of anti-government sentiment in recent polls and appear to be making a comeback of sorts. The next election is unlikely to result in a sea change in Irish politics but the numbers may leave us with an interesting scenario, which might hasten the union that Mr O’Herlihy desires.

For purely mischievous reasons, I would relish the prospect of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael having to sit down together and discuss the prospect of coalition but the thought of it actually happening spawns a deep disquiet in me.

Mr O’Herlihy’s speech included a section about “reclaiming” the word Republic. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Republic as follows, “A state where power is held by the people and their elected representatives and which has a president, rather than a monarch”. This broadly seems like an apt description of Ireland but I’m not entirely sure that power is really held by the people.

Certainly, we hold regular elections but the choice is so limited and the level of political discourse so squeezed into that tiny space in the centre of politics that it amounts to a choice between two kinds of cupcakes with slightly different types of topping. The flavour of the confections is dictated by which of “the big two” is incumbent and which is spouting the rhetoric of opposition.

If Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were to merge, it would sound a death knell for Irish democracy because it would narrow the democratic choice to such an extent that Ireland would become, in effect, a single-party state. There might be some blood on the tracks in various constituencies around the issue of candidate selection but the permanent coalition could safely field enough candidates guaranteed election to preserve their favourites in post to avert significant crisis.

There would be some in both parties who would splinter and contribute to a sheen of democracy by founding new parties in opposition to the monolith but they would be coalitions of protest, no doubt made up of members of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. These personality cults might enjoy minor success but eventually would wither away, as so many of their kind have in the past.

Despite the truth of Mr O’Herlihy’s words, regarding there being only the width of a sheet of tissue paper between the parties from a policy perspective, their union would be a crushing blow to the façade of democracy in Ireland. I may be getting ahead of myself to suggest that the parties should merge but I feel if they enter a coalition, there will be no excuse to maintain the pretence of difference at any future election. Those seated around the Cabinet table would find themselves to be such natural bedfellows that any future separation or dissolution of the union would be farcical.

A Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition is the political equivalent of Pandora’s Box. Once the box is opened, it can never be resealed. The paper-thin façade of difference between Ireland’s two major political parties can never again be argued once they have formed a union. They can never again claim to be anything other than the same party masquerading as enemies.