Six months in Leinster House
MICHEAL MacDONNCHA, parliamentary aide to Caoimhghín O Caoláin
TD, reflects on the reality of life in the Big House
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The peace process may have led to a thaw towards Sinn Féin on a
personal level (and that's by no means unanimous as you would see
from some of the sour pusses in the corridors) but in here the
political reality remains. We are a competing party, presenting
an electoral challenge and a political alternative. No favours
are expected or given.
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Two reports landed on my desk here in Kildare House last week.
One was full of Christmas cheer. The other struck a more sombre
note.
The first was a little Christmas present from An Post - a
brochure and stamps marking 75 years of `Rialtas na hEireann',
the anniversary of the foundation of the Free State on 6 December
1922. The text gushed with enthusiasm for the Celtic Tiger and
the great achievements of the Irish in all fields of endeavour.
It was a promotional publication, aimed primarily at
international audiences. But the tone echoes that of our
political class in the 26 Counties, full of self-congratulation
about the successes of the economy. We are all meant to share in
the `feelgood factor'. If we dissent we risk being stigmatised
like the grumpy old man whose Christmas greeting was ``Bah
Humbug!''
Of course the real Scrooges are not griping on the sidelines.
They are actually running the country. The second report reminded
us of that. It was from the Conference of Religious in Ireland
and gave a detailed analysis of Charlie McCreevy's Budget for the
Rich.
Charlie is an old-fashioned politician. He doesn't have much time
for ideas or ideologies. He likes horse-racing and has a
down-to-earth style of delivery.
He was truly disappointed when he was not universally praised for
giving pensioners a rise of £5 per week. He was completely
unruffled when it was pointed out that he had blown the best
chance in years to narrow the inequality gap and lift many of our
people out of poverty.
Those of us with longish memories recall his Dirty Dozen cuts
when, as Minister for Social Welfare in 1992, he cut benefits
during the recession in the name of fiscal rectitude. During hard
times the poor are made to pay.
During better times the wealthy are rewarded. That, basically,
is how the system works. Companies and wealthy individuals will
have bulging Christmas stockings thanks to Charlie. The rest of
us will struggle along as usual.
In their constituencies the 81 Government TDs will encounter
daily the hard realities which no amount of public relations can
conceal. They will meet people living in cramped accommodation as
they linger on endless housing lists.
They will meet the unemployed, and some of the many thousands on
the make-work schemes which are used to fiddle the true jobless
figures. They will deal with innumerable social welfare issues.
In such face-to-face meetings in their `clinics', boasts about
the Celtic Tiger will not work. So the government TDs will rely
on their ability to convince people that because they are
government TDs they have special access which will speed up
claims and get the desired result. Once again, that's how the
system works.
Where can a progressive party that seeks fundamental change fit
into all this?
With great difficulty is the short answer. The two-fold challenge
is immense. It is first to provide the service to constituents
which they expect and deserve. It is then to put forward a
consistent political programme, an alternative to the failed
policies which have dominated for so long. This alternative needs
to be constructive, offering real improvement in people's lives
in the short term as well as in the long term.
Place this burden on the shoulders of one TD, the sole
representative of his party in Leinster House, and the size of
the task becomes clear. And I haven't even mentioned the special
responsibilities which participation in the peace process bring.
We live in the most centralised state in Europe, and one of the
most bureaucratic. Precious little power is devolved to local
level. Conservatism is ingrained in the ethos of the civil
service, mirroring that of their political colleagues of both the
major parties. This means that people look to their elected
representatives to short-circuit a system which is bewildering
in its complexity and intransigence. It means that the vast
majority of TDs spend virtually no time on law-making and policy
formulation and nearly all their time on constituency work.
Leafing through the newly published Guide to the 28th Dáil and
Seanad it is amazing the number of faces that I do not recognise.
They are rarely seen around the corridors here. They are the mass
of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael back-benchers who spend all their
time on constituency work and only appear here as required by
their party whips for lobby fodder when votes are called in the
House.
The business of forming policy and making laws is left to a very
few people, a select group of ministers and top civil servants.
These same people dictate the procedures of the legislature
itself. They treat it as a kind of sausage machine. The meat is
stuffed in one end and the regulation-size sausages come out the
other. Their job is to ensure the smooth working of the machine.
Political debate is incidental. Real political imput from TDs,
representing the democratic voice of constituents, is negligible.
All this is disguised by the niceties of parliamentary procedure
and the ethos of Leinster House itself. Like most parliaments,
its membership is male-dominated, mainly middle-aged and
conservative. The stuffiness of the gentleman's club prevails. If
you're not part of the old boy network - the lobby fodder - life
is made very difficult for you.
The sole Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin has encountered all
this at first hand. Even the most basic democratic right - his
right to speak in the body to which he is elected - is severely
curtailed. The peace process may have led to a thaw towards Sinn
Féin on a personal level (and that's by no means unanimous as you
would see from some of the sour pusses in the corridors) but in
here the political reality remains. We are a competing party,
presenting an electoral challenge and a political alternative. No
favours are expected or given.
In response we must deploy hard work and struggle - nothing new
for republicans. The workload of our TD is enormous. Constituency
work is highly demanding and there is a big challenge to make
full use of the political opportunities presented by membership
of Leinster House, both for the people of Cavan/Monaghan and for
Sinn Féin. We are learning lessons all the time which will be of
use to future Sinn Féin representatives here. We are improving
representation and service to constituents.
We work in a system which we are trying to transform and that
means that the most important arena is not in here but on the
outside, in the community, where we build our political strength.
It has been an unprecedented year for Sinn Féin in terms of
building political strength. We made a breakthrough six months
ago in Cavan/Monaghan. The story of the past six months has been
one of efforts to make more breakthroughs, to push the boundaries
further. Republicans have shown themselves well capable of
breaking out of the jails and ghettoes made by their opponents.
There will be many more escapes to come.
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