Stuck with the status quo

EVERYWHERE I go I hear people say there is a crying need for a new politcal party in Ireland. This week alone I heard of two new parties being formed with the aim of contesting the next elections. Doubtless we will hear of others in the coming months and weeks.

 

There are a lot of people out there who don’t like or trust any of the parties in the Dáil. One of the most common announcements I am hearing – coming from traditional Fine Gael supporters – is “I’ll never vote for Fine Gael again”. I hear the same about the Labour Party from Labour supporters. During the last election we heard the cry, “I voted Fianna Fáil all my life but never again”. Of course, there are a lot of people around who could never vote for Sinn Féin because of that party’s association with some awful events in the North over 30 years of bloody conflict. There are a lot of people also who would never vote for any of the socialist parties.

Where does that leave us? I’m afraid it leaves us with possibly a majority of the people who are disgruntled with all the parties in the Dáil. They no longer have a party to vote for. Hence the call for a new political party.

There is a feeling that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour will always be with us, although recently I have been hearing “Labour is finished”. We heard that about Fine Gael many times in the past and it was said about Fianna Fáil after the last election. Nobody can predict with any degree of accuracy what will happen at the next election because we don’t know what situation the economy will be in.

The polls are showing that Labour would be hammered.  Fianna Fáil would win back many of the seats it lost at the last election and Fine Gael would lose at least 10 of theirs.  Sinn Féin would also gain, as would the independents and the socialist parties. Fine Gael and Labour would hardly have enough seats between them to form a new government. So the alternative would appear to be Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. Or perhaps any combination of those parties with the help of some of the socialists or the independents.

Does that prospect attract you? I guess not. You would be getting more of the same. Leading, once again, to the call for the formation of a new political party. New political parties have a very poor record in this or most other countries. It is almost impossible for a new party to get off the ground. Those that managed to get off the ground very soon fell away again. Leave out Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin from this reckoning. They were all founded in different times. They have had their ups and

downs and I reckon they will be around for some time yet in one form or another.
Apart from those more or less established parties, only three new parties have had some success in Irish political history. Clann na Poblachta, the Progressive Democrats and the Green Party came on the scene with a bang but all went out with a whimper. Many of the people voting today do not even remember Clann na Poblachta, a party founded by Sean McBride, a former chief-of-staff of the IRA in the mid-1940s.  That party was supported mainly by people who had become disillusioned by years of Fianna Fáil rule but could not get themselves to vote for Fine Gael or even Labour. They faded away after entering government with Fine Gael and Labour.

I don’t have to remind you of the PDs or the Greens. Both were dedicated to getting Fianna Fáil out of power but both went into government with that party eventually. The whole raison d’etre of the PDs was to “break the mould” and put an end to the type of politics indulged in by Charles Haughey.

However, when it came to the crunch, they elected Haughey as taoiseach. The Greens surrendered some of their basic principles in order to keep Fianna Fáil happy in government with themselves. They also supported the bank bailout at the behest of Fianna Fáil and helped to bring the troika into this country.

The moral of this piece of history is that all new parties find themselves in the position of either getting into bed with one of the big parties or remaining on the Opposition benches where they can make great speeches but have no power.  They have always taken the first option and have always suffered the consequences.  That, by the way, is a choice that Sinn Féin have not had to face yet.

Of course, there have been numerous other new political parties throughout the years. Most of them I have forgotten about but I do remember Clann na Talún, a farmers’ party.  There was also Aontacht Éireann and Monetary Reform. There were ratepayers’ parties and parties for the unemployed and there was a socialist party founded by Noel Browne and Jack McQuillan in the ’50s and early ’60s.

One of the essentials for a new party is a big name.  One of the biggest names now being mentioned in the context of forming an alternative to the existing parties is the former PD leader Michael McDowell. I think he would like to set up a new party but he is long enough around to be aware of all the obstacles to such a move.

There is a suggestion that a new party may be formed among the people who have either left or been expelled from the Labour Party over the past two years.  There has also been talk of a party formed by the rebels in Fine Gael who have been expelled from the parliamentary section of that party because of their stance on the abortion issue.

The biggest obstacle of all to forming a new party is the question of money. It costs far more to run a successful political party than many of the people in favour of such a move realise. Merely to get a new party off the ground would cost far more than appears to be available.

It is one thing to start a new party. Anyone can do that. It is another thing to get a new party into a position where they can win seats in a general election.

I’m afraid we are going to be stuck with the parties we have for a while yet. Whether we like it or not.