PROlNSlAS De ROSSA could hardly have anticipated that on the fifth anniversary of the formation of his party, he would be in the High Court awaiting the decision of a jury on matters pertaining to the party he and his colleagues recently left. But his former colleagues in the Workers' Party would not be surprised that five years after Messrs De Rossa, Rabbitte, Gilmore et al left their ranks, questions about the identity of their party abound.
Such questions arise because it is no longer clear what Democratic Left is about or, perhaps particularly, how, in any substantive respect, it differs at all from its "left-wing" partner in government, Labour. Indeed, there would be difficulty in distinguishing Democratic Left from any of the major parties. And with the preparation of a joint manifesto by the three Coalition partners for the forthcoming election, there will be particular difficulty in distinguishing Democratic Left from Fine Gael.
While he was still leader of the Workers' Party (the split occurred in early 1992) Proinsias De Rossa, speaking on the 1991 budget of the Fianna Fail-Progressive Democrats government, said:
"Our social system is increasingly a two-tier one. In health, education and social welfare our children are suffering from social apartheid. The children of the poor must endure overcrowded classes, often in semi-derelict school buildings, while the sons and daughters of the rich benefit from private fee-paying schools.
"The children of the poor must take their chances on the hospital waiting lists while the sons and daughters of the rich can walk into the Blackrock Clinic and have their medical needs attended to instantly. Those on social welfare must fight an endless demoralising battle to feed and clothe their children while the wealthy elite agonise over the destination of their foreign holidays...
"This budget does not tackle the underlying problem. Indexation of social welfare in line with inflation is simply a form of standing still. We are still way off target in regard to figures set by the Commission on Social Welfare and the government promise in the new programme [for government] to meet the commission's recommendations by 1993 is quite simply a confidence trick."
Our system of education and health system is still two-tier, and nothing at all has been done to change that since Democratic Left entered government. The disparity in wealth is at least as great now as it was in 1991. Indeed, the Conference of Religious in Ireland (CORI) said of the recent Budget that it "aggravates the widening of the poverty gap between the long-term unemployed and all those with jobs. The gap in take-home income between an unemployed couple and a couple on £20,000 a year has widened by £530 a year in this Budget alone. Compared with a couple on a salary of £40,000, the gap is widened by £1,072". Similar observations were made by CORI about the 1995 and 1996 budgets.
As for the implementation of the 1985 Commission on Social Welfare recommendations, far from these being implemented by 1993 they are still far from being realised. There is now a commitment to reaching the commission targets in the year 2000. And if it was a "confidence trick" in 1991 to promise implementation by 1993, how is it any less of a confidence trick now to promise implementation by 2000?
Speaking in the adjournment debate in the Dail on June 29th, 1994, six months before he was to go into government, Proinsias De Rossa asked: "Who can point to a single issue in the economic area where this government has adopted a position or taken a decision that might not have also been taken by the previous Fianna Fail-Progressive Democratic administration or the minority Fianna Fail government who went before that?"
The sad reality is that in the social welfare area, the performance of this Government does not match what was done even by Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats between 1989 and 1992.
While Proinsias De Rossa has been Minister for Social Welfare, the real increase in benefits has been a mere 64 per cent of what the real increases were while the Progressive Democrats governed with Fianna Fail. As this claim will be disputed, I will elaborate.
In the three years that the Progressive Democrats governed with Fianna Fail (1990, 1991 and 1992) social welfare payments increased by 5 per cent, 4 per cent and 4 per cent respectively over those years. The inflation rate during these years was 3.4 per cent, 3.2 per cent and 3 per cent. Thus the real rate of increase in social welfare payments during these years was +1.6 per cent, +0.8 per cent and +1 per cent.
This gives an average of 1.1 per cent of real increase in social welfare payments over the three-year period (And, by the way, all these primary figures have been supplied by the Department of Social Welfare.)
In the two years that Democratic Left has been in government and Proinsias De Rossa has been Minister for Social Welfare (1995 and 1996), the increases ink social welfare benefit have been 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively. The rate of inflation over those two years has been 2.4 per cent and 2.5 per cent.
Thus, in 1995 there was a zero increase in social welfare benefits in real terms and a 1.4 per cent increase in 1996. This gives an average real increase of 0.7 per cent, as compared with the 1.1 per cent increase, on average, under Fianna Fail and the Progressive Democrats.
John Bruton has been much ridiculed for going into government in 1994 with the party (Democratic Left) he promised categorically at the last election he would not enter government with. Indeed that was by far the most distinctive policy position taken by Fine Gael at the last election. Can anyone remember another?
BUT in 1992 Proinsias De Rossa was making similar declamations. In an interview with this newspaper on November 13th, 1992, he said his party was proud to be the only party that "Mr John Bruton has not invited to pay musical cabinet chairs". He said in the same interview his party would not support any coalition government which was effectively dominated by the "conservative parties" even if Labour had a leadership role in it.
Democratic Left has been just as opportunistic and just as timorous, as events developed, as the other parties. Take just two examples. Who would have thought in 1992 that the people now in Democratic Left would have joined in sponsoring a referendum to change the laws on bail to permit preventive detention? And in 1992 Democratic Left called for legislation on the substantive issue of abortion, a position it has now abandoned, lest those it formerly characterised as "ayatollahs" call down vengeance upon them.
Individually, the Democratic Left TDs are among the best in the Dail. But collectively, what difference do they make? And, what is more relevant, who now speaks for the poor in Irish society?