Stephen Collins: Fianna Fáil old bones may be poking through ‘new politics’ flesh

Has the old Fianna Fáil come back to haunt the country once more? The party's pledge to abolish water charges certainly looks like a return to the carefree, populist policies of old.

It does not sit easily with the party’s commitment to the “new politics” which has facilitated the Fine Gael-led minority Government on a clearly defined set of principles for three budgets.

The party’s abandonment of a rational and sustainable approach to the supply of water is a worrying development as it indicates that it has not, after all, really learned any lessons from the cavalier policies that led the country to the brink of economic ruin twice over the past 40 years.

Only time will tell whether inside the party of “new politics” the old-style Haughey-era Fianna Fáil is simply waiting to burst out, when the opportunity arises. The signal given by the decision on water is ominous. The aggressive element in Fianna Fáil has been encouraged by the surge in support for the party in the opinion polls since the general election but that could be a serious misreading of the public mood.

It is arguable that Fianna Fáil has regained public confidence by the manner in which it has built on its election comeback by adopting a mature approach to the formation of government.

It could very easily squander that new-found respectability by lining itself up with Sinn Féin and the array of hard-left Independents who have campaigned against the water charges.

The move may well help the party wrest a seat or two from the left in working-class constituencies but it could lose many more in middle Ireland. More than half of all households paid at least some of their water bills and another chunk of the population who live in rural Ireland pay for water already. Who will represent them?

Water charges

Sinn Féin has naturally pounced on the Fianna Fáil move and announced its intention of putting down a Dáil motion calling for the abolition of water charges. That will be a test of where the larger Opposition party sees its future.

One of the reasons for the Fianna Fáil shift into populist gear has been the emergence of instability in Government ranks in recent weeks, leading to speculation about a general election sooner than anybody had anticipated.

The antics of junior Minister John Halligan have certainly fuelled the notion that the creaking government edifice will not be able to say upright for very long.

However, there are signs that the Halligan wobbles might actually have focused minds among the members of the Independent Alliance. His colleagues are becoming increasingly impatient with him and letting it be known that they are quite willing to go on without him if he jumps ship.

From the beginning, Independent Alliance junior Ministers Finian McGrath and Seán Canney have shown a keenness to get involved in the process of government. It has taken longer for alliance Cabinet member Shane Ross to come to terms with being in office but the signs are that he has knuckled down to it.

It is not just the Independents whose commitment to the Government is doubtful. A more serious threat to stability resides in the Fine Gael party itself. As was demonstrated again at the gathering of the parliamentary party at the beginning of the week, a rump of TDs are determined to keep the pressure on Enda Kenny to go.

Kenny appears impervious to the pressure. His use of the old Muddy Waters refrain about getting his “mojo” back baffled some of his younger critics in the party, but it clearly showed a man who couldn’t care less what his internal opponents thought of him.

The dilemma facing Kenny’s critics, who form the nucleus of Leo Varadkar’s leadership campaign team, is that any leadership change in the near future could well trigger the very thing that none of them want – an early general election.

Stability vital

For the present, Kenny has the backing of a majority of the parliamentary party and he knows it. Events could change all that in an instant but, for the moment, the big issues facing the country, particularly the massive challenge of Brexit, reinforce the need for political stability.

The budget in a few weeks’ time will be a real test of that stability. If the Government can get agreement among its own members without too much public squabbling – and then get the measure through the Dáil – the political atmosphere should calm down for a while. Apart from getting a budget passed, the Government needs some tangible achievements to convince the public that it is capable of lasting for a reasonable term.

So far Simon Coveney has been the star of the Cabinet with his comprehensive housing plan demonstrating real seriousness about facing up to one of the country's biggest challenges. Richard Bruton's action plan for education, launched during the week, is another initiative that shows the Government can develop clear ambitions. Bruton was the unsung hero of the last administration presiding over the action plan for jobs that made a real contribution to reducing the level of unemployment. Adapting the template to the vitally important education sector is a positive step.

Coveney and Bruton have demonstrated that the Government can do positive things if the will is there, regardless of its minority status. If Fine Gael can come up with initiatives in other vital areas of public concern, it might even rebuild some of the credibility it lost through a disastrous election campaign last February and differentiate itself from Fianna Fáil in the process.