Micheál Martin as Taoiseach makes little sense, and neither does this new Government. If you’re feeling weird about it all, don’t worry. It’s not you. The whole thing is incredibly odd.
Of course we understand the processes by which this Government came to power, but that doesn’t make it any more logical. The mechanisms by which governments are formed are not up for debate. It’s the outcome that’s bizarre.
This coalition is only “seismic” or “historic” to a small cohort of political anoraks. Ultimately, very few people care about “civil war politics”. Such things do not concern those paying extortionate rents, nor those sighing at nonsense luxury student accommodation pockmarking city streets instead of actual housing. Nor those languishing on hospital waiting lists. Nor children going to school hungry. Nor women suffering violence in lockdown. Nor those who’ve lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic. Nor those struggling to understand why the high proportion of nursing home deaths feels only lightly interrogated to date.
The media is often guilty of trotting out “it’s the only game in town” narratives, a mode that created an imposed consensus around the disastrous bank guarantee, for example. Alternatives require imagination, and an interrogation of given and received wisdom. The idea that another election would plunge us all into some sort of epic crisis is ridiculous. Elections are not crazy things to hold.
And a crisis for whom, exactly? It would certainly be a crisis for Fianna Fáil, hence the hysteria amongst many of their representatives regarding the prospect. Of course they didn’t want another election, because they would haemorrhage seats Sinn Féin would pick up by fielding more candidates. How is it logical therefore, the alternative to an election they would do poorly in, is for their leader – who is unpopular – to be ordained Taoiseach? It doesn’t make any sense.
Didn’t the country vote for meaningful change? Weren’t most people desperate for something new? And now we have . . . this? It’s this absence of sense that can drive people towards thinking – rightly or wrongly – the system is “rigged”, and that political power is held by “elites” whose focus is maintaining power and using that power to reward people like them.
Centrism may often be framed as a moderate view, but it depends where you’re standing. Ultimately, a force of polarisation in Irish society is not necessarily at either end of the “left” or “right” spectrum; it’s the gaslighting that centrism perpetrates and perpetuates. When politicians keep telling you everything is fine when it clearly isn’t, that things are normal when they clearly aren’t, that a country is experiencing a recovery when you aren’t, the centre cannot hold. This is the core frustration Sinn Féin has capitalised on.
Ideologically regressive
At the heart of this new Government is a delusion its existence is some sort of conclusion. Combining the ghosts of the crash with an out-of-touch Fine Gael who insisted the country was flying when so many people were sinking, will not work out well. Fianna Fáil is historically Catholic, conservative, and corrupt. They crashed the economy, which destroyed people’s lives and futures. Even Fine Gael thinks so – they embedded Fianna Fáil’s recklessness in their own campaigning messaging. Fianna Fáil’s ardent base is ideologically regressive. That doesn’t mean minority viewpoints do not deserve representation. But leading the country? Really? What’s wrong with this picture?
There is a lack of engagement by political parties and most media with the enduring impact of the crash and austerity. The change the electorate seeks emanates from that. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and the Greens have moved on from the crash, which says a lot about the wealth of their representatives, members and voters. But their disengagement causes frustration and a kind of head-spinning anger. Why the pretence a retreat to the familiar faces of political power in Ireland was what people voted for back in February? We know that’s not the case. So, again, what’s wrong with this picture?
The Green Party often appears to have two gazing modes: navel, and global. In the middle, somewhere, lies perspective, something that is sorely lacking. Take a step back, and they’ve just walked back into Government with a party so toxic they decimated the Greens through guilt by association. Take a step back, and they’ve just imposed a Fianna Fáil Taoiseach on their young voters. Take a step back, and they are betting two parties who have consistently shown they don’t care about the environment, will prioritise tackling the climate crisis. Take a step back, and they seem to think it’ll be Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – the parties of big business, big farmers, developers and builders, shortcuts and suits, and the architects of Ireland as a tax haven – who will authentically pursue “the green agenda”.
Again, what’s wrong with this picture?
Ultimately, this is a damp squib Government. There is nothing exciting, enticing, or exceptional about it. It feels like a momentary diversion parallel to the broader cycle of ongoing change. But just because it’s a damp squib doesn’t mean the heat has gone out of the moment, because what forms with apathy, often shatters with anger.