Madam, - "The present Government gained power by reckless and impossible promises. They have not merely failed to fulfil these promises but have sunk the country into a state of degradation from which they are wholly incompetent to raise it."
These sentiments were not expressed by a contemporary political commentator, but formed part of a statement issued by the leader of the then newly formed Fine Gael party at its public launch in the Mansion House on September 8th, 1933. Exactly 70 years ago, Eoin O'Duffy placed his party's manifesto before the Irish people.
It is still hard to disagree with him when he sees "the voluntary reunion of the Irish Nation as the paramount constitutional issue in Irish politics".
O'Duffy also voices contemporary concerns when he states that the party was founded "to give the workers not merely an uncertain subsistence but secure employment and a reasonable measure of comforts and amenities; to protect individual liberty and the rights of citizenship; to work constantly for peace and goodwill between all creeds and classes and to build up for the whole of Ireland a worthy and distinctively Irish civilisation".
He goes on to say that the party seeks to inspire the young "with love of their country and the spirit of voluntary and disciplined public service", because upon such spirit, "more than upon Government action depends the emergence of our country as a Nation with its own language, taking pride in the past and neglecting no opportunity in the present".
Re-echoing these ideas, Eoin O'Duffy unwittingly coined the phrase that still defines the Fine Gael party today, at least in the eyes of its supporters: "Looking to the future, while rooted in the best traditions of the past".
The Fine Gael leader ended the party's inaugural manifesto by calling "upon all men and women who love their country and who desire to work for Ireland's honour and well-being to do their part in helping us to end the present policy of ruin and to build up an Ireland one, prosperous and great in spirit and achievement".
Even though O'Duffy subsequently proved himself to be particularly ill-suited to the leadership position, one cannot but be inspired by the spirit which animated the party at its foundation. Fine Gael's future depends on its ability to recapture some of that spirit and thereby enable the party to present itself as a viable alternative at the next election. - Yours, etc.
FRANK BOUCHIER-HAYES, Gortboy, Newcastle West, Co Limerick.