Note: This article is taken from the Wednesday’s (June 16th) Daily Mail, prior to the results of the Fine Gael leadership battle.
There is little that excites the Irish media more than rumours of leadership struggles within the main political parties. These days, the newspapers are in a high state of excitement over the challenge to Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny, by Richard Bruton and the sacking of Bruton from the Fine Gael front bench. There has also been speculation about whether Fianna Fáil Leader and Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, would face a challenge.
The speculation around Cowen’s position arises from the recently published reports on the banking crisis and from the results of the Irish Times / Ipsos MRBI opinion poll. Enda Kenny’s difficulty arises from his party falling to 28% support in the poll while the Labour Party leapt into first place on 32%.
Unfortunately, all the headlines and the acres of print taken up with the intrigue of leadership contests arising from the personal ambitions of contenders and the fear of political annihilation of career politicians on the backbenches, usually result in the most superficial analysis.
The Irish economy is in a catastrophic crisis. Working people, unemployed people and poor people are the major victims. They are subjected to an onslaught on their living standards and services and public services and this is due to continue for as many years as it takes for capitalism to crawl out of its crisis and put itself back on the gravy train tracks again.
One would therefore imagine that a contest for leadership of the political parties, which are either in government or aspiring to be, would give rise to a major discussion on the policies the candidates espouse to deal with this crisis. In relation to Fine Gael, for example, is there a difference between the economic policies that would be implemented in government depending on whether Enda Kenny or Richard Burton is leader?
There is not a scintilla of difference of course. Messrs Kenny and Bruton both would continue the Flanna Fail / Green Party policy of savage cuts. Indeed, they might even intensify the pain on ordinary people.
So what difference does it make to the victims of the economic crisis which of the two would win a leadership contest? None at all is the answer.
The question for the media then is why they are prepared to regale us with every inconsequential detail of the contest, often amounting to no more than mere gossip? Because it distracts the long suffering victims of the crisis from the plain truth that all the establishment political parties differ not a whit in their prescriptions. And that holds true irrespective of whether we are speaking of personalities within Fine Gael or comparing them with leading members of Flanna Fail. Media commentators know all this but large sections of the media are themselves active participants in the political scene with substantial economic interests on the survival of capitalism.
We now read frequently about whether Taoiseach Cowen will be replaced as Leader of Fianna Fail. Many sections of the media are busily promoting Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, as a far better leader, should his health permit.
One argument here is that Brian Cowen, having been Minister for Finance, during the era of speculation and profiteering in property, carries a major responsibility for the inevitable crash that followed. This is quite true but the argument then goes that Brian Lenihan carries no responsibility because he wasn’t in the Cabinet at that time. This is an astonishing argument.
Brian Lenihan was first elected to the Dail in a Bye-election in Dublin West in April 1996. On the last count he secured over 11,000 votes, a few hundred ahead of the next candidate. (I should know, I was that candidate!) Re-elected in 2007, he voted for Bertie Ahern for Taoiseach. For the next ten years, first as a Dáil Deputy, and later as a Minister of State, he supported the Fianna Fáil / Progressive Democrat government in everything it did.
Not once did Brian Lenihan speak out in opposition to the greed, speculation and profiteering in the housing area. Not once did he champion that generation of young workers who found themselves crucified by Fianna Fail developers and bankers, being obliged to purchase new homes at exorbitant prices.
Brian Lenihan obediently voted for all the policies that created the economic disaster. So if rank and file soldiers may not use the excuse of following superior orders, why should it be any different in the political arena? But Mr. Lenihan is now obediently carrying out the mandate of the economic elite and the financial markets in their attempt to salvage their system, “bravely” savaging the living standards of those who carry no responsibility for the crisis.
In preparing for the next General Election, the electorate should demand a real debate on the critical and concrete issues that affect their lives and reject the diversion created by ambitious personalities fighting for careers.
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