ALL IS changed, changed utterly for Fianna Fáil. Delegates, renowned for their unflinching loyalty to the party and its leader in times of trouble, were outspoken in their criticisms at the weekend árdfheis. They said the Government had lost its way; had been in office for too long; was out of touch with ordinary people and didn’t seem to know what to do.
The loss of faith was staggering. Unintentionally, perhaps, they reflected the general mood of disillusionment in the country. Taoiseach Brian Cowen came out fighting since he, more than anyone else, realised that the party and the Government were on the back foot.
They had fed the fires of a massive public borrowing and spending spree for five years. Now that foreign lending has dried up; the property bubble has deflated and exchequer revenues are some €18 billion in deficit, Ministers refused to acknowledge that they are part of that past. Any semblance of an apology, even an acknowledgment of possible mistakes, did not rate in their political vocabulary. The prospects for an all-party political recovery plan and emergency tax-cutting measures are remote with such amnesia.
The ardfheis was an inward exercise. Noel Dempsey rallied the troops with an astonishing party political attack on the Fine Gael and Labour parties in his address to warm up delegates for the leader’s speech. It was a common theme over the weekend. There would be no sharing of responsibility or acceptance of past failures. When Mr Cowen spoke about the need for a “meitheal mentality”, he was looking inwards also. It was time for Fianna Fáil to circle the wagons in the face of a hostile world.
Mr Cowen’s first address to a Fianna Fáil Ardfheis was well-delivered. He spoke fluently. He didn’t fluff any of his lines. He spoke to the Fianna Fáil party, however, rather than the electorate at large. This was a cardinal error in what was, after all, his state of the nation speech.
There was no real vision on offer in the Taoiseach’s speech: just higher taxes at an unspecified future time,further reductions in services, and a muddling through with unchanged policies. He promised a Canadian model of banking regulation, having conveniently forgotten that the current regime came from Fianna Fáil. He promised 50,000 job training places and a €100 million fund for small exporting businesses. The public finances would be corrected over five years.
The Taoiseach’s considerations were all party political.Public service cuts and tax increases would be delayed beyond the local and European elections in June. The Lisbon referendum would be re-run in a climate conducive to cross-party co-operation.
Mr Cowen was offered Opposition support for an early budget to increase taxes before the local elections. It is simply extraordinary that he would not explore this offer in the interests of the country. He could not lose. It was notable, too, for the first time for a coalition leader, he did not acknowledge the existence of his partners, the Green Party, in his televised leader’s speech.