Inside politics: 'The making of governmental decisions is not a majestic march of great majorities united upon matters of great policy but rather it consists of the steady appeasement of relatively small groups." - Robert Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory (1956).
If ever there was an illustration of the aphorism coined by one of the founders of political science, it is the renewed controversy over the proposed banning of drift-netting for salmon off the Irish coast. The ban is long, long overdue, it is overwhelmingly in the public interest from every point of view, economic, environmental and cultural, yet there are signs that a tiny vested interest may yet again prevail over the common good.
The Government is already responsible for allowing the destruction of Irish salmon stocks to continue for far too long at the behest of a tiny lobby group. The clear scientific advice in favour of a drift-net ban has been there for years, the European Commission has threatened the Government and other countries have pleaded with us to stop destroying their salmon stocks as well as our own.
If the Government again shirks its responsibility for fear of losing a minuscule number of votes in a handful of constituencies, the Irish taxpayer will probably have to pick up a very large tab for the State's incompetence.
It is clear that the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Noel Dempsey, wants to do the right thing, but it is far from clear whether his Fianna Fáil colleagues will let him. Those opposed to his implementation of the Independent Salmon Group report are vociferous but, so far, nobody on the other side of the argument in Fianna Fáil has come forward in support of the report's recommendations.
As if the mounting opposition in Fianna Fáil was not bad enough, the main Opposition party, Fine Gael, has responded in a bizarre fashion. The party's marine spokesman, John Perry, has thrown in his lot with the Fianna Fáil objectors and come out against the recommended ban in favour of a voluntary compensation scheme, which everybody in the industry knows will simply not work.
By attempting to out-manoeuvre Fianna Fáil in the competition for a few hundred votes in a string of constituencies along the west coast, Fine Gael has raised serious doubts about its fitness for office. If the party cannot take a stand in the public interest on an issue which involves such a small number of voters, it is difficult to see how it will ever be capable of taking tough decisions that might make it unpopular with bigger and more powerful interest groups.
Fine Gael has now put itself in the position where it has lined up not just with the Fianna Fáil dissidents but with Sinn Féin and its spokesman on the marine, Martin Ferris, a man with a colourful experience of seafaring, who is another implacable opponent of the drift-net ban. That Fine Gael became enmeshed in this unholy alliance is something that should be a cause of concern for its supporters around the country.
Labour and the Greens have taken a very different and more public-spirited approach than Fine Gael, as have the PDs. The Greens have been in favour of a drift-net ban for years and while Labour's marine spokesman, Tommy Broughan, has sought further assurances on the issue of compensation, he has backed the immediate introduction of the ban.
If his Cabinet colleagues have the sense to back Mr Dempsey and proceed with the ban, then instead of the Government looking silly for bowing to a few backbenchers, it is Fine Gael who will be left in an untenable political position with the two Government parties and its two potential coalition partners all on the right side of the argument.
Of course there is no guarantee that Fianna Fáil will actually back its own Minister. If form is anything to go by, his party colleagues will avail of a scheduled meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources next Wednesday to make things difficult for him. The Fianna Fáil members of the committee have been hostile to his attempts to clean up the fishing industry in the past while John Perry and Martin Ferris will be openly opposing the introduction of the ban.
The significant decision, though, will not be made at the committee; it will be made by the Cabinet.
Mr Dempsey should be able to count on his ministerial colleagues but there was something ominous about the way the report of the Independent Salmon Group was published, after consideration by the Cabinet last Tuesday, without any decision being taken on it.
The opponents of the report in Fianna Fáil have interpreted this as a sign that the Cabinet can be persuaded to walk away from it. The attitude taken by the Taoiseach will be crucial to the final outcome. If he backs his Minister the report will be implemented, if he doesn't it will bite the dust behind the smokescreen of a three-year voluntary buy-out of drift-net licences.
If that happens our salmon stocks face wipe-out. That would be a disaster on so many levels. On a cultural level the salmon has been an iconic image of Ireland, from the story of Finn MacCool down to the beautiful old coinage approved by WB Yeats.
On an environmental basis, it would be sacrilege to drive this beautiful species to the edge of oblivion and on sheer economic grounds it would make no sense.
The potential economic return for tourism from a healthy salmon stock far outweighs the value of the catch by drift-net fishermen which will end in any case within a few years when they have wiped out the fish.
The propensity of Irish politicians, driven by the competitive nature of multi-seat constituencies, to appease small groups at the expense of the greater good has been confirmed time and again, on issues ranging from pensions to farming and property speculation to public service reform.
Capitulation to the drift-net lobby would be the ultimate display of spinelessness.