BRIAN COWEN is not the only person in Fianna Fáil with the capacity to lead our party, writes Brian Lenihan. There are others who could justifiably lay claim to that position.
The remarkable thing about the last week, and for this Bertie Ahern deserves great credit, is that from among that talented group, Brian Cowen has emerged as our unanimous choice. It was my great honour to propose him for that position.
Deputies make their decisions on the leadership of their parties on the solid basis of their personal experience of working with the candidates. There has been a lot of favourable comment in recent times on the American primary system which involves the party membership in the selection of candidates for the presidency. However I believe our system, whereby the elected representatives choose their leader, is the most effective and the most accountable.
A canny lot by definition, deputies make their decision on the basis of personal knowledge and experience and with the hard-headedness of those who know that their political future depends on their choice. Anyone who comes through that test and does so unopposed is starting from a very strong base.
Cowen first came across my horizon when he was selected to contest the Laois-Offaly byelection caused by the sudden death of his father Ber in 1984. He was a young man who, like myself, had chosen the profession of the law and I know he would have liked more time to develop his promising career.
Twelve years later, I was elected to Dáil Éireann on the death of my father and I fully appreciate the difficult decision he had to make at a young age to enter public life.
I cannot claim to have known back then, as others did, that he would become the leader of our party and the taoiseach of this country. However it quickly became clear to all involved in Fianna Fáil that he was one to watch.
He has always struck me as a politician of immense judgment informed by common sense. He regards politics as an honourable calling and he possesses an almost instinctive awareness of the limitations and potential of the exercise of political power.
His achievements as a minister in five departments have been impressive. As minister for labour, he showed considerable skill in the industrial relations arena by managing and helping to solve a protracted bank strike. Later, as minister for transport, energy and communications, he oversaw the radical change of our commercial semi-State companies. He opened up competition in the energy market, worked with Aer Lingus on the Cahill plan and initiated the reorganisation of Telecom Éireann to prepare for competition in the sector.
As minister for health, he introduced the "Cowen package" for people with intellectual disabilities which he augmented with more resources as Minister for Finance in his first budget. His contribution in this area has been generously acknowledged by those who work in the sector, including Fergus Finlay, chief executive of Barnardos, who this week testified to the significant priority Cowen has given to disability throughout his political career.
He held the line during a difficult nurses dispute in 1999, the resolution of which led to the Commission on Nursing and improvements in the conditions and status of nurses.
He introduced for the first time a system of multi-annual budgeting for hospitals to allow them to plan properly and he provided significant funding for new buildings at St James's and St Vincent's hospitals in Dublin, and hospitals in Galway, Tullamore and Cork.
As minister for foreign affairs, he successfully steered Ireland's campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council in 2001-2002 and chaired the council during the month after September 11th at a very critical and sensitive time when key decisions were needed in response to the increased international terrorist threat. He was also involved in building a consensus on the first resolution agreed at the United Nations on Iraq.
His astute judgment and negotiating skills were used effectively in the critical peace process talks in Hillsborough, London and Dublin with the British government and parties in the North. He was particularly involved in ensuring the implementation of the Patten report on policing which was a key confidence building measure for the Catholic community in Northern Ireland.
As Minister for Finance, his focus has been on keeping minimum wage earners out of the tax net while ensuring that those on the average industrial wage are kept out of the higher tax bracket, improving standards of living for the elderly and those on social welfare and reviewing and reforming tax reliefs and incentives.
He has produced in the National Development Plan, the most ambitious development programme that this country has seen. Over the next seven years, it will lay the foundations for our future economic and social development. He also invested significantly in childcare and in frontline services in education, health and policing.
Cowen combines a wealth of domestic and international political experience. He has had a loyal and close working relationship with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, advising him and learning from him in dealing with the many issues that confronted the Government in recent years. He learned a lot of lessons during the Ahern era about cohesion and teamwork, both in the party and in government. His objective and clinical analysis in preparing for elections will serve our party well.
In his column in this newspaper yesterday, Fintan O'Toole disparaged Cowen's record. It did not surprise me but it reminded me of another column penned by O'Toole 16 years ago, in which he derided Albert Reynolds for his involvement in the dancehall business: "There is something particular about a Fianna Fáil leader who could make so light of the party's great raison d'etre, partition, as to believe that Borderland was just a dancehall in Clones."
It was clever stuff but it was wrong and it was shallow, as the subsequent achievements of Reynolds in bringing peace to this island have proved.
Cowen is the quintessence of Fianna Fáil but he also has a clear vision of the role our party should play in 21st century Ireland. I believe he has the experience, the intellect and the skill to lead this country as taoiseach. His time has come.
Brian Lenihan is Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform