A politician able to confront the country's problems is required now more than ever, writes Ivan Yates
USUALLY WHEN asked to analyse Irish politics and politicians I seek to inform in the same way a soccer pundit does with the perspective of a former soccer player.
I explain how modern TDs are hard-working community and social workers. They have a relentless routine of constituency obligations to ensure their job security. They are misunderstood by a sceptical and cynical media and electorate.
Then I seek to entertain by elaborating on the blood sport that is politics: the hidden tension of intense competition within and between political parties; the naked opportunism; back-stabbing; deliberate ambiguity and fickleness - all essential features of a successful politician.
But this time I want to bemoan the lack of political leadership in Ireland since 2005. I hope that I have been around long enough to be able to differentiate between political mediocrity and quality, regardless of what political party the person is from.
Over the past 30 years I have observed politicians who have made a difference. I joined Fine Gael because I connected with Garret FitzGerald's vision for the country. In the late 1970s he articulated an outlook of a secular and more pluralist society by getting the State out of the bedroom and favouring the personal freedom to remarry. He departed from the traditional narrow republican ethos from the South and promulgated unionist consent as a prerequisite to political settlement.
In the late 1980s the PDs departed from the consensus. Their no-nonsense, pro-enterprise stance and ethical strictures for politicians were required to shift the political establishment. Along with FF's conversion to rectitude, order was restored to the public finances and the conditions were created for the Celtic Tiger economy.
Dick Spring's trenchant pursuit of Haughey, the beef industry and probity created a surge in support for Labour in 1992. Bertie Ahern's negotiating skills and amiable self-deprecation facilitated political deals in Belfast and Dublin that have stood the test of time.
It is boring and self-serving when former players in every code portray their era as the definitive vintage time. That's not my point. I write not as a politician, but as a father of four school-leavers in the next few years and as an employer of more than 300 people in a medium-sized business. Hey, I am just an ordinary punter who really cares about our future.
I am fearful of unemployment reaching 300,000 in 2009. I worry that the public finances will deteriorate rapidly and revert to the woe and pain of the 1980s. Post-Lisbon referendum, I am concerned we are drifting away from Europe and the benefits of being at the heart of Brussels decision-making.
Modern political mass communication is principally done through television. The recipe? A well-tailored suit or outfit, good grooming, the appearance of confidence, authority through gravitas.
I have no problem with professionalism, but there should be no confusion between this and political leadership.
The qualities that made for political success in the past are enduring. Courage, fearlessly to enunciate policies and to confront the country's problems, is now required more than ever.
The golden decade of economic growth meant tax cuts and better public services. Politicians simply had to dispense good news and take personal and party credit. Our most recent political culture at every level has been based on populism and popularity. This won't work now.
The solutions are fairly clear in my mind. For all of us our standard of living is directly dependent on the goods and services Ireland can sell abroad. The revenue we generate in exports ultimately pays for more doctors, teachers, better pensions and welfare. The latter without the former can only be paid for by more public debt and consequent higher taxes. We have travelled this arduous road before.
We have done okay in terms of tax rates and technological development. Infrastructure is improving. International competitiveness is to do with price, quality and reliability of what you are selling. But - and it's a big but - we have seriously lost competitiveness.
Our political system gives 166 people the key responsibility for our affairs. Of course, our top civil servants and innumerable quangos more than guide and influence the politicians, but, at the end of the day, the testosterone, courage, persuasion and inspiration that is the brilliance of political leadership has to come from a TD. Would someone please step forward . . .
• Ivan Yates runs Celtic Bookmakers. He is a former minister for agriculture and from 1981 to 2002 was a Fine Gael TD for Wexford.
Noel Whelan is on leave