Anthony McIntyre ✒ Pearse Doherty has been one of the most effective speakers on the opposition benches in Leinster House in recent years.

His blistering critiques of government policy on the economy, poverty, taxation, public spending, homelessness and whatever other under-cooked dishes ministers serve up, have been no less insightful than they have been polemical. The critique he has consistently waged has been unrelenting and merciless. His presence on the opposition benches is a reminder that a society will always find a government but to have good governance, or at least governance better than it would otherwise have been, a robust and intelligent opposition is required. Strong opposition is a vital component of governing society.

It is unfortunate that when Sinn Fein gets into government, as seems likely, that Doherty will have to defend bad economic policy rather than being the bane of it. This is because - and contrary to the alarmists like Ruth Dudley Edwards - Sinn Fein are not unlike the other parties but are very much like them, and they will behave very much like them once in office.

Despite my admiration of Doherty's efficiency, I will not be voting Sinn Fein in any elections. It is not because of what it has opportunistically abandoned in its indecent haste to secure the trappings of office. If I thought the party would change anything I would swallow my reservations and throw a vote its way. But rather than change society Sinn Fein will change its discourse. No change or minimal change will suddenly become seismic change. 

When the honeymoon is over and society discovers that what it married is the same as what it divorced, the blame will be placed on the previous government parties from whom Sinn Fein inherited a sinking ship which despite its valiant efforts was damaged beyond repair. To make it seaworthy will require just another term in office . . . if the electorate is gullible enough to pay money for old rope.

In radical terms Sinn Fein will be no different in the Dail than it has been in Stormont. So despite Pearse Doherty’s undoubted acumen as a parliamentarian, that edge will be sorely blunted by the exigencies of government which structurally prioritise conserving not changing. Expect to hear lots of the Mario Cuomo dictum on the need to campaign in poetry but govern in prose. Ask Pat Rabbitte - he knows the words.

Pearse Doherty can hardly be accused of being yesterday's man, but yesterday was a bad day for him. His fleet-footedness on the floor of the Dail has rarely seen him bowled out from the government benches. Until that fateful moment when he seems to have gone off script and opted to poke barbs at Tanaiste Leo Varadkar. The Fine Gael man seemed uncannily prepared for the Doherty serve, which he proceeded to return with verve, force and deft accuracy.

Doherty had accused the Tanaiste of an uncaring attitude towards the swathes of people suffocating from poverty by hosting a Fine Gael dinner, only to face the retort that Sinn Fein runs $1000 a plate dinners in the US to which the party leader has a penchant for flying first class. Wounded, Doherty sought to rally by sneeringly suggesting that Varadkar should display more humility and less hubris given that the Prosecution Service was considering prosecuting him for malfeasance. Varadkar's response was no less withering than his first. He informed the Donegal TD that he had in fact been prosecuted for harassing a Garda. 

Game over. Doherty had sustained a rare double tap defeat.

Drama over, it was time to switch channels and watch someone having a considerably more torrid time than Doherty - the former US president Donald Trump. The Duel in the Dail may have lacked the cinematic quality of Duel In The Sun, but worked as a methadone foil to the cold turkey occasioned by Borgen and Baron Noir deprivation.

⏩ Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

Duel In The Dail

Anthony McIntyre ✒ Pearse Doherty has been one of the most effective speakers on the opposition benches in Leinster House in recent years.

His blistering critiques of government policy on the economy, poverty, taxation, public spending, homelessness and whatever other under-cooked dishes ministers serve up, have been no less insightful than they have been polemical. The critique he has consistently waged has been unrelenting and merciless. His presence on the opposition benches is a reminder that a society will always find a government but to have good governance, or at least governance better than it would otherwise have been, a robust and intelligent opposition is required. Strong opposition is a vital component of governing society.

It is unfortunate that when Sinn Fein gets into government, as seems likely, that Doherty will have to defend bad economic policy rather than being the bane of it. This is because - and contrary to the alarmists like Ruth Dudley Edwards - Sinn Fein are not unlike the other parties but are very much like them, and they will behave very much like them once in office.

Despite my admiration of Doherty's efficiency, I will not be voting Sinn Fein in any elections. It is not because of what it has opportunistically abandoned in its indecent haste to secure the trappings of office. If I thought the party would change anything I would swallow my reservations and throw a vote its way. But rather than change society Sinn Fein will change its discourse. No change or minimal change will suddenly become seismic change. 

When the honeymoon is over and society discovers that what it married is the same as what it divorced, the blame will be placed on the previous government parties from whom Sinn Fein inherited a sinking ship which despite its valiant efforts was damaged beyond repair. To make it seaworthy will require just another term in office . . . if the electorate is gullible enough to pay money for old rope.

In radical terms Sinn Fein will be no different in the Dail than it has been in Stormont. So despite Pearse Doherty’s undoubted acumen as a parliamentarian, that edge will be sorely blunted by the exigencies of government which structurally prioritise conserving not changing. Expect to hear lots of the Mario Cuomo dictum on the need to campaign in poetry but govern in prose. Ask Pat Rabbitte - he knows the words.

Pearse Doherty can hardly be accused of being yesterday's man, but yesterday was a bad day for him. His fleet-footedness on the floor of the Dail has rarely seen him bowled out from the government benches. Until that fateful moment when he seems to have gone off script and opted to poke barbs at Tanaiste Leo Varadkar. The Fine Gael man seemed uncannily prepared for the Doherty serve, which he proceeded to return with verve, force and deft accuracy.

Doherty had accused the Tanaiste of an uncaring attitude towards the swathes of people suffocating from poverty by hosting a Fine Gael dinner, only to face the retort that Sinn Fein runs $1000 a plate dinners in the US to which the party leader has a penchant for flying first class. Wounded, Doherty sought to rally by sneeringly suggesting that Varadkar should display more humility and less hubris given that the Prosecution Service was considering prosecuting him for malfeasance. Varadkar's response was no less withering than his first. He informed the Donegal TD that he had in fact been prosecuted for harassing a Garda. 

Game over. Doherty had sustained a rare double tap defeat.

Drama over, it was time to switch channels and watch someone having a considerably more torrid time than Doherty - the former US president Donald Trump. The Duel in the Dail may have lacked the cinematic quality of Duel In The Sun, but worked as a methadone foil to the cold turkey occasioned by Borgen and Baron Noir deprivation.

⏩ Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.

2 comments:

  1. Not often you see PD lost for words.
    I didnt think Leo had it in him.
    Maybe Mary Lou will fly economy when she heads Down under to Sydney and Melbourne in July
    24 Hours in Cattle Class....I think not

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  2. Sinn Fein are sure to be in next government not sure but who will pitch up with them maybe the Healy Raes after that I don't see many takers throwing one's lot in with them could be political suicide will Sinn Fein work with people who won't toe the party line I've always thought of Pearse as a bully roaring and shouting but what will he do when he goes from being the hurler the ditch to playing midfield..half time sub

    ReplyDelete