Mentioned in the Stupid Statement post this weekend, but some points made by Shane Coleman in the SBP recently are fairly robust. He writes about the fairly pointless run by FG junior Ministers over the idea of a €1,000 tax relief for those on the average wage. But he concurs with the opinion of one anonymous FG source that it was 'childish stuff'. And neither of them are wrong.
As he also notes there are so many areas where the government is in trouble - do any of us need them listed, that this idea seems almost laughable given the severity of all else. Yet as he also notes by doing this Fine Gael has hit at one area the coalition is actually doing quite well, whatever we may think of it. That is that it has had a degree of internal cohesion that given its novelty on the Irish political landscape, consider yet again that we are looking at the first coalition between the two traditional enemies, is quite something.
All that undone in a matter of days by stuff like this:
But that can't work if, very publicly, there is no trust between the government parties. Michael Creed telling the Fine Gael parliamentary party that they "shouldn't take lectures from those who crashed the economy" and that Fianna Fáil is "still on probation in respect of fiscal probity" might play well in the room, but it doesn't make for good government relations.
There is an obvious retort that, in both the 2002 and 2007 elections, Fine Gael promised to spend more and tax less than Fianna Fáil. But forget that. It's as irrelevant as Creed's rabble rousing. For hard pressed voters, concerned only about the here and now, fighting the battles of previous decades, instead of focusing on the job in hand, won't butter any parsnips.
What on earth was Creed thinking of? What were any of them?
Perhaps little surprise that it is Fine Gael that has decided now is the time to take a shot at that. As Coleman notes the Varadkar leadership is not the most stable and that's before we get to his political acumen:
The Taoiseach has a low boredom threshold and likes to stir things up a bit. And that's fine (if at times risky). It's also legitimate for Fine Gael or any of the parties in coalition to set out their stall at the right time – 'this is what is important for us as a party'. But there is no clear narrative coming from Fine Gael. Is it the party that represents those who get up early in the morning? It's a line that Varadkar occasionally uses, before generally retreating in the wake of criticism online and in the media from those who prefer their politics to be of a more social-democratic disposition.
Whether voters do or not is a moot point. But whatever the approach, there must be consistency of message. Back in 2011, Fine Gael's most successful election ever, the party had a five-point plan that it stuck to, to the point of parody. It worked. And similarly straightforward and unwavering messaging is required this time around.
That's dull, and it's far from risk-free, but given all else it might be the best that they have going for them. If that sounds like quite the indictment of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government, well so it is. I can't imagine that ten, fifteen, thirty years from now people will look back on this administration and argue it is an example to be emulated (or at least I hope not). But in an inchoate world cohesion isn't the worst virtue for a government. Noted elsewhere that the polling where Sinn Féin has added a couple or more percentage points to its tally underlines Coleman's concluding thoughts:
If there is one thing voters hate, it's politicians squabbling. And there's been far too much of that over the past week. Fianna Fáil is not blameless, but Fine Gael as the instigators must take primary responsibility. Despite everything, including unfavourable opinion polls, the government retains a chance of being re-elected in some shape or form. Of course, Sinn Féin is in poll position. But a lot can and will change before election day.
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