BACK PAGES:As taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil during the early days of the Northern Troubles Jack Lynch developed a method of dealing with the many thorny questions and internal divisions that beset him and the party with circumlocutions and vague sentiments. One of the main interpreters of these often convoluted statements was John Healy, especially in his weekly Backbencher column, as in this example on Lynch's policies on the bans on divorce and birth control.
SOME MONTHS ago I did one of my neat pieces of analysis of a Lynch speech in nettle-plucking, showing how a close legalistic reading of Honest Jack’s pronouncements on this matter of divorce and contraception clearly implied that while Jack was willing to remove anything which might be an obstacle to unity, the removal would not take place until the North was united. In other words, Jack would see the colour of the political coin before he horse-traded a comma of the Constitution or the Criminal Law publicly. I am rather pleased that he seemed to confirm my read this week when he came to deal with the matter with his usual evasiveness in the House.
Paddy Hillery sitting beside kept his usual watchful eye on the Press gallery and smiled when the Taoiseach reminded the House of Dr Hillery’s undertaking to the House on the same subject: as I have consistently pointed out, Paddy was careful to say, on that occasion, he was speaking for the Taoiseach. Paddy wasn’t carrying that bag for anyone, least of all himself.
But no more than Brian Faulkner going to the [Orange] lodges with his assurances about tame Catholics, our liberal Fianna Fáil deputies will now be able to assure their Northern friends, if and when they meet them, that the Criminal law is really a dead letter and Constitutional Amendments are available in Dublin. On prescription, of course . . .
But there’s republicanism for you, boy. Northern jelly blows up buildings and people. Southern jelly explodes silently under Palace walls – though as long as we make no noises, it seems to be OK. Republican morality’s chief characteristic is its elasticity.
But then wasn’t it Mick Moran who stated that you couldn’t import Constitutional Amendments: you were not allowed to manufacture them here or to buy them – but if you managed to lay your hands on them, it was OK to use them. No problem, really!
I was much touched by the helpfulness of the Labour Party and Brendan Corish suggesting that for the EEC Referendum, Jack might use the referendum to tidy up other Constitutional amendments, by putting the lot in a package deal. Brian Lenihan smiled at that. Brian has a good memory of what happened when he flew his last Constitutional package deal over PR : the Opposition threw a fit.
Honest Jack isn’t going to foul up the Europe vote with a non-issue like divorce (sorry, a Constitutional amendment).
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You have, I take it, spotted the new Fianna Fáil innovation in the realm of Good Government. It is Government by closure. If you have a problem, close it down. Then you have no problem.
Railways are a problem. Close them down. Dunquin school is a problem. Close it down. The College of Art is a problem. Close it down. Any day now I’m waiting for the news that they’ve solved the problem of the west simply by closing it down. Now I know there are some people who’ll tell you that life would be a lot simpler if we solved the problem of Dáil Éireann and Fianna Fáil, by closing it down.
After all, Stormont is a problem to Honest Jack and Fianna Fáil and we know what Jack’s solution is. What was it he said? Close it down!
http://url.ie/2oft