The Left: more ideas and more focus needed.

 —  June - July 2010

   look at Ireland’s Left. We scru-

tinise the Labour Party and ﬁ nd it a little short on

radicalism. We also look at alternative political

movements – particularly on the left – and ﬁ nd

them somewhat wanting in clarity of purpose.

More generally we also survey [ p] Ireland’s

currently-ubiquitous crisis-driven outpourings

of ideas on Renewing the Republic, particularly

those on RTE and in the Irish Times and ﬁ nd lit-

tle inspiration there either (though at least they

opened the discussion).

Perhaps Frank Callanan’s thesis [p] that the

country was mesmerised by Bertie Ahern is true.

Far too many Irish people became Economic and

practical rather than idealistic or ideological. We

simply don’t have many good ideas. That, even

more than the reality of the Economic Depression,

posits subduing prospects for the future.

We interview three key Labour Party spokes-

persons. They display competence, shrewdness

and an acute awareness of the public interest, if

a pronounced weakness on the environment.

However, their party has consistently failed to

play to public anger and the appetite for change,

often fudging and triangulating its policies.

While Éamon Gilmore, perhaps the country’s

most talented politician, certainly provides lead-

ership in the Dáil, there is little sign Labour is

leading the country towards a new humane ide-

ology. Joe Higgins [p] describes Labour as “fun-

damentally dishonest about election campaigns”,

since it is doomed to coalition and a watering

down of the political premises that drive it.

Nevertheless, Niall Crowley’s interview [p]

suggests Gilmore is thoughtful and passionate

about society and equality - even equality of

outcome - though no doubt the prospects for this

ultimately lie with the unimpressive and right-

ist Fine Gael which seems to have learnt little

enough from our values crisis. Labour’s Finance

Spokesperson, Joan Burton, gives a sparky inter-

view [p] and highlights Labour’s thoroughly

circumspect attitude to the guarantees recklessly

given to Anglo and Irish Nationwide – encapsu-

lating the diﬀ erence it makes to be driven by the

public interest. Indeed in general Labour prob-

ably reﬂ ects what most of the country believe in

when they apply themselves. This does not nec-

essarily endear it to this magazine.

In short the Labour Party is neither as radi-

cal nor as fresh as it needs to be.

This all opens up a gap, into which hopes to

jump a smorgasbord of fringe groups. We assess

them in this issue [p]. Richard Boyd Barrett

[p] oﬀ ers the compelling analysis that the Left‘s

“failings include being too divided and failing to

communicate its message in a language that ordi-

nary people can understand”. But Village prefers

Déirdre de Búrca’s perspective that there is a need

for a new electoral party and not just a movement

or an alliance. In particular there will be a need to

take on Fine Gael which, without a concerted new

electoral movement, will take power – presumably

in coalition with a compromised Labour Party –

and exercise it in a way that will be almost indistin-

guishable from the Fianna Fáil (or at best Fianna

Fáil/Green) way. Many people believe the coun-

try deserves a citizens’ forum. Village concurs

but hopes that any consensus achieved should be

used to animate a new political party.

Village believes renewing the republic would

best evoke a tri-partite agenda animated by equal-

ity, quality of life/sustainability (which – since the

purpose is to pass our resources undiminished to

our children - is equality between generations) and

transparency. Bunreacht na hÉireann was driven

by greater pariochalism and religiosity than is

appropriate in a sophisticated and diverse society

like Ireland’s today. The constitution should be

overhauled immediately: to reﬂ ect these tripartite

principles. Change might be expected to entail

removing the religious and ritualistic elements;

guaranteeing equality of outcome (so account is

taken of the structural disadvantages in some peo-

ple’s lives); including commitments incremen-

tally but swiftly to improve the Gini coeﬃ cient

(which registers equality); promoting the rights

of minorities and the vulnerable including women,

sexual and ethnic minorities, children and the

aged. A new constitution would need to ensure

that the exploitative and criminal are properly

investigated no matter how great their resources;

guarantee a right to a good and improving envi-

ronment and that Ireland aims to the highest

standards of planning and environmental protec-

tion; explicate rights to work, shelter and facilities,

rights to equal access to ﬁ rst-class health services

and education up to third level; attenuate the cur-

rent rights of property and provide that land may

be cumpulsorily purchased at current-use value

and should be rezoned in the public interest by

public authorities rather than under pressure

from vested interests. Political parties should be

funded only from the public purse, whistleblow-

ers would be protected, the judiciary and the legal

profession subject to scrutiny by independent

assessors. We would also like to see government

at a level so local (‘parish’ or ‘Community’) that

elected representatives represent and are respon-

sible to their own most immediate communities.

That tier of government should be supplemented

by powerful directly-elected mayors in urban

areas and a new level, of regional government.

Elected members should take decisions in concert

with cross-sectoral elected-stakeholder round-

tables i.e. elected members’ decisions should be

informed by the views of businesspeople, commu-

nity activists, environmentalists, trades unions

etc, as well as ther usual bureaucrats. Balanced

roundtables conduce to sustainable development

and would preclude the excesses of régimes like

the Dublin Docklands Authority and the zoning-

proﬂ igate current local authorities. This preclu-

sion would be reinforced by strict legal obligations

on Community and regional authorities to imple-

ment a planning hierarchy at the apex of which

would be national spatial strategy.

These precepts emanating from a new con-

stitution could drive a comprehensive vision of

society, implemented in multifarious ways. Other

issues like Dáil expenses, an electoral list system,

Seanad abolition and the length of a Presidency

relate to the eﬃ cacy rather than purpose of the

system. In the context of a new constitution they

are of rather less concern to us.

The main opposition parties oﬀ er an agenda

for change. It is unlikely their agenda will trans-

form society in the way public contempt for poli-

ticians would suggest is possible. It is time for a

new departure.

The Left: more ideas and more focus needed.





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