The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Fianna Fβil party should be well pleased by the positive manner in which business was conducted at the weekend Ardfheis, in spite of the gathering economic storm clouds. But the longer the Coalition Government remains in office, the more obvious some of its failings have become. And, at this stage, the prospect of spending itself out of political trouble by investing heavily in inadequate public services has become problematical. The downturn in world economic activity has been so severe that any increase in spending on services is likely to be kept to a minimum in the December Budget.
Expansion of the health services is an obvious exception. And details of a seven-year strategy has been promised by the Minister, Mr Martin. Even there, however, the reluctance of the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy to relax the public purse strings may delay necessary changes. The other area where Government spending will rise is on infrastructure, where inadequacies in the transport system, telecommunications, electricity and waste management had already begun to choke off economic growth.
Perhaps the most significant political development of the ardfheis was the determination to reposition Fianna Fβil as the mainstream voice of republicanism and to challenge the growth of Sinn FΘin. Delegates were warned to guard against personation at the coming general election, while the Taoiseach insisted there was no place for physical force vigilantes in modern Irish society. He praised the SDLP for courageously supporting the new Northern Ireland police structures. And he committed his Government to greater co-operation with unionists because, he said, the issue of political legitimacy had been settled by the Belfast Agreement.
The Taoiseach developed his message at yesterday's State funeral in Dublin when he differentiated between the struggle of ten Volunteers during the War of Independence, who were upholding the legitimacy of the first Dβil, and recent physical force campaigns which had stretched "the democratic mandate of 1918 far beyond its natural term. There was neither need nor excuse for the extra-judicial use of force by anyone today, he said.
Fianna Fβil celebrated 75 years of its existence at the weekend and delegates were understandably proud of the contribution the party has made to Irish political life. But ministerial eyes were fixed firmly on the future and on next year's general election. Controversies and failures were ignored and party members were urged to develop their constituency organisations and prepare for a return to government next year. Consistently positive opinion poll results have promised success. And while two by-election defeats in Tipperary South, along with a failure to carry the Nice referendum, have sounded a note of caution, party members were brimming with confidence. Given Fianna Fβil's dominant position at this time, it would take a number of major political shocks to knock it off course.