By Peter Makem
It’s official. After 100 days of impasse and negotiation in the backdrop of Covid-19 virus a new and historic deal between Ireland’s two traditional bitter political rivals Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will see Micheál Martin of FF become Taoiseach for two years followed by Leo Varadkar of FG for the following two.
As everybody knows, Ireland’s two major political parties were born out of the Civil war, Fine Gael (Family of the Irish) and Fianna Fail (Soldiers of Destiny) born out of the pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty forces back in 1922.
The latter party was formed by De Valera in 1926 when he decided to enter normal politics, take the Oath of Allegiance and set out on the road to power.
Fine Gael was formed in 1933 as a merger between Cumann Na nGaedheal, and the smaller nationalist parties the National Centre Party and the National Guard, the latter commonly known as the Blueshirts who supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
Of these two parties, Fianna Fail quickly grew to be the largest and Fine Gael only ever came to power, in coalition with such as the Irish Labour Party. So for the past century, the Irish Civil War rumbled away in the undergrowth, and from time to time flared into full blooded bitterness as to which of them were the authentic guardians of Ireland’s destiny.
So the years simmered on until Bertie Ahern’s Fianna Fail brought unprecedented wealth and good times to the country into the turn of the century as the world acclaimed the Celtic Tiger and the miracle of modern Ireland. Fianna Fail were untouchable. But the point of ripeness is always the point of rot.
At the zenith of the greatest achievement in the Party’s history came the greatest collapse in the Party’s history. In the subsequent general election 2011, Fianna Fail were almost totally wiped out. It was like the remains of a crashed jet. At this, Fine Gael formed a new government under Enda Kenny and was confronted with the massive problem of paying back the debts, in other words, borrowing at the insistence of the EU to bail out the banks.
Those were dark years as government cuts struck the ordinary people and Kenny felt the pressure in the general election of 2016 as Fianna Fail under Micheal Martin from Co. Cork was managing a slow comeback.
The first sign that the old Civil War enmity was going to have to be put away was when sheer numbers forced Fine Gael and Fianna Fail into an historic deal called a ‘supply and demand’ arrangement with Kenny as Taoiseach, soon to be followed by Leo Varadkar when Kenny stood down.
Then came the election last February and the surge of the Sinn Fein vote following widespread anger at the absence of appropriate housing and inadequate health provision. Both traditional parties were hit again, with Fianna Fail leading Sinn Fein by a single seat and Fine Gael actually two seats below Sinn Fein in the overall count. That was a hundred days ago as I write. So what was the hold up?
Sinn Fein initially had tried to form a coalition with the Independents and the Greens but could get nowhere near the 70 seats required to form a government and critically, neither Fine Gael nor Fianna Fail would touch them claiming that ‘toxic elements’ were still running the party and so on.
But the reality seems to be that they both found themselves confronted by a common enemy and began to edge together in a closer bond of brotherhood — and sisterhood. It was clear away into the distant future that neither will be able to form a government and that sections of their vote had been eaten into by Sinn Fein and independent parties with the Greens settling into a strong vote. In fact, between the two of them, they could not form a majority.
But it was not an easy coming together because they needed the environment-strong Greens on board and they were very wary of the fate of small parties entering a coalition— that they get wiped out. That along with the Virus tragedy in recent months meant that this was, by far, the longest ever impasse between an election and the formation of a government.
So having got the Greens convinced that their policies will not be melted down, Michael Martin is going to be the new Taoiseach and after two years Leo Varadkar will step back in as national leader.
For all practical purposes they are now the one party and ironically, just when it comes to the anniversary of the Treaty and the great modern division line in Irish politics, old wounds are healing up, old scars falling away. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein are settling into five years of opposition and protest as whole new enemy lines are opening up in Irish life.
Can you imagine over there what force would join up the Republicans and Democrats, that for example, in the next four years, it would be Trump for the first two and Biden for the second two? Maybe America needs a Sinn Fein equivalent to scare the top cats in the U.S. to form a new brother/sisterhood.