Pat Rabbitte runs a tight ship but his sharp wit and weary air can be alienating. No longer patron of the picket line, he faces tough policy challenges ahead, writes Mark Hennessy.
Just minutes after becoming Labour leader last year, Pat Rabbitte told cheering supporters that it was time for Bertie Ahern to collect his P45. So far, Ahern has not obliged. Indeed, Fianna Fáil's strategy now is to stay in office for as long as possible in the hope that grumpy voters will mellow.
Nevertheless, Rabbitte has grounds for satisfaction, though both he and the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) have much to do to create "a government-in-waiting" to oust Ahern. Control has been imposed over often-fractious Labour TDs, the disaffected have been wooed, the internal reorganisation begun by his predecessor, Ruairí Quinn has been continued.
"He isn't personally close to many people in the parliamentary party, though Dick Spring and Ruairí Quinn weren't either," one PLP member tells The Irish Times. Another says: "He can be a bit sharp at times. In fact, he can cut you in two when he wants. But he does listen to people. And he does push people."
So far, the pollsters have smiled, though there was plenty of ground to make up given Labour's lacklustre 13 per cent general election showing. Boosted by Rabbitte's party conference, Labour climbed to 22 per cent in The Irish Times/TNS mrbi May opinion poll, though the showing - at 19 per cent - come September, was still favourable.
Significantly, given Fianna Fáil's current mantra that there is no opposition, Fine Gael, Labour and the Green Party together stood at 45 per cent, 10 points ahead of Fianna Fáil and the PDs. Buoyed up, Labour is in confident mood: "It is so different to be pushing a ball down a hill, rather than up it," says one of Rabbitte's closest allies.
Understandably, Rabbitte has had his head stuck in the party engine for the last year as it prepares for next June's local election campaign. One backroom figure says: "There is a real mood out there. Candidates are getting a bounce from him. People feel that they are going somewhere. There are tensions in some places with sitting councillors because they want to run on their own and protect the vote and we want to run two candidates."
In fact, Rabbitte may be interfering too much: "He is getting more involved than predecessors. You can get into micro-managing when you do that," one Labour representative fears. However, his local election focus is understandable, because he needs new blood, and urgently, if he is to renew a tired Parliamentary Party.
Despite no shortage of effort, few frontbenchers are scoring strikes. In particular, Dublin West TD, Joan Burton, is disappointing in the finance portfolio. In defence, one TD says: "The problem is that the public are angry with Fianna Fáil but they are not just taking it out on them. They are taking it out on all of us."
The party's engine room is the management committee, which is chaired by Pat Magner and includes deputy leader, Liz McManus, and advisers, Fergus Finlay and Tony Heffernan. Meeting each Tuesday, it drives the party's weekly agenda inside and outside the Dáil. Few yet complain, but it is strikingly similar to the kitchen cabinets of the Spring and Quinn eras.
Although Rabbitte has healed election wounds, the loyalty he enjoys is conditional as it always is for leaders. "Nobody feels that they made a mistake electing him. People feel that he will be successful. They'll sign up and see where it takes them. They will park any other feelings that they have until that runs its course," says one experienced hand.
But he has wielded the stick when necessary, as Dublin North East TD, Tommy Broughan found out after he bucked the party's carefully devised, if rather uncomfortable, line on bin charges. Dumped unceremoniously from the management committee, Broughan was replaced by former TD, Senator Derek McDowell, Brendan Howlin's campaign manager.
Blessed with sharp debating skills, Rabbitte has scored in the Dáil - although he still lies far short of the peaks reached by Dick Spring against Charles J. Haughey. "He is the ultimate parliamentarian. He is probably one of the best that is there at the moment. Unlike others, he actually believes parliament is important," says one.
Unfortunately, the Government's desire for long recesses - with another one next week - continually interrupts his stride: "When it isn't on, he has problems," says one senior figure. His ability to grapple with Ahern has been hindered further by Labour's decision to accept the Taoiseach's absence from the Dáil on Thursdays. The changes were accepted in a deal before Rabbitte's accession in a bid to ensure that Labour did not lose priority to a melange of Greens, Sinn Féin and Independents. However justifiable from a selfish point of view, the changes have devastated the Dáil's weekly dynamic and impacted on Rabbitte's ability to land punches
However, Rabbitte's razor wit, so loved by the media, is not welcomed everywhere: "In the shopping centres, people tell me that they find it too sharp," one Dublin TD complains. For "people" read women.
Besides being a little jagged for the tastes of some, Rabbitte often affects an unbecoming air of weariness, that is part affectation, part boredom. "If he is bored, he will show it. Quinn got so good at branch meetings that you would have sworn he was enjoying himself by the end. Pat isn't like that. Not yet, anyway. But they still seem to lap him up. So he can't be doing too much wrong," says one TD, who has encountered his new leader at close quarters frequently.
Coalition options are matters, for now, for another day. Though Rabbitte needs Fine Gael, its current drift to the right could cause problems if it continues. Few, however, think the problems will be insurmountable if the prize is power - although Rabbitte's determination to be Taoiseach, and not just second fiddle, is no joke.
His organisational focus has obviously meant a lesser focus on policies, although the Co Mayo man is more comfortable in the land of ideas than most. But hard choices are looming. He had planned to fire salvos over the heads of public sector unions during his Killarney conference speech, but they were dropped as he ran out of time. He has returned to the theme since. The message is this: Labour supports public services more than anyone else. Therefore, it can be toughest about demanding value for money
Sooner, or later, Rabbitte is going to have to put hard choices before the unions, an important constituency for Labour. The issue will not fracture ties that he has done much to improve: "The unions are pragmatic and realistic. They accept that the party has to strike out on its own," says one adviser.
Meanwhile, there is the matter of tax. "Tax and spending are the big issues ahead. We can't and we won't go into the next election without being clear on them," the same source goes on. However, the public's attitude towards taxation complicates the ground. Everybody wants better services, but, in the same breath, can deny the need for more taxes.The solution lies in hypothecated taxes, where money is raised for specific purposes. "We have some chance of persuading people in favour of that," says a former Labour TD.
Good-humouredly celebrating his first year as party leader, on Wednesday evening, Rabbitte was quick to emphasise the job that lies ahead if Labour's rose is to bloom. "We have learnt to crawl in the first year. Nothing more," he said, before leaving for the Red Cow Hotel on Dublin's traffic-blighted outskirts. Hundreds of such meetings lie ahead.