I have never once heard any contemporary of mine express the ambition of achieving political office in Ireland, writes HUGH McDOWELL
I GOT the feeling that, as a generation, we greeted the saga of Ivor Callely’s expenses (paid for by us) either with an apathetic shrug of our shoulders or a bemused “Who’s he?” It is symptomatic of the disregard that young Irish people have for politics and politicians. But Ireland’s youth will be paying the economic price for the profligacy and deceitfulness of those who went before us for years to come, so it’s vital that we find a way to encourage teenagers and 20-somethings to re-engage with the political process.
Having seen the grassroots activism of Barack Obama’s campaign first-hand during a year spent studying in California, I returned to Ireland determined to become more politically active. But I found myself caught in a bind. I couldn’t stomach the idea of supporting Fianna Fáil, a party that has proven itself devoid of integrity and ingenuity during their 2½ terms in office. I am neither an eco-warrior nor an extreme republican, so the Greens and Sinn Féin didn’t fit either.
I was left with a choice between Fine Gael and Labour, but, to my amazement, neither could articulate a solution to our economic woes that made more sense than Nama. So I resigned myself to the class of “floating voter”, dismayed with my incompatibility with any of our five major parties.
By even considering the idea of joining a political party, I engaged further in the political process than most. The experience of having a family member at cabinet level throughout adolescence has magnified my sense of how disconnected the political system is from my peers.
Young people shrug off the perceived ineptitudes of their public representatives with a cynical indifference. “Who cares”, and “That eejit again”. I have never once heard a contemporary express the ambition of achieving office in Ireland.
Ireland’s youth sees the Oireachtas as a shambles, largely populated by people who are middle-aged, corrupt, lacking in vision – and not very clever. We can’t expect young people to interact with the political system unless they are inspired by elected politicians. We need young, ambitious politicians who can demonstrate competence and dynamism on the political stage.
There are few capable young politicians in Dáil Éireann. Leo Varadkar is articulate and smart, and, to Enda Kenny’s credit, holds a senior position in Fine Gael’s front bench despite only three years in the Dáil and his part in the failed leadership coup. Nevertheless, one can’t help but feel that he will have to wait for people like Richard Bruton, Simon Coveney and Phil Hogan to have a go at the leadership before he has his turn.
And for every Leo Varadkar, there’s a Thomas Byrne. On an edition of RTÉ television’s The Frontline in February, the Fianna Fáil TD from Meath delivered an insipid and rambling 90-second speech designed to convince voters of Fianna Fáil’s merits.
How Byrne, aged 32, could think that describing Fianna Fáil as a “listening party”, a “community party” and a “republican party” would restore the faith of his young audience in the political system is beyond me. Hearing him described as one of his party’s “rising stars” revealed how desperate our politics has become.
I was almost as disappointed with Fine Gael’s Lucinda Creighton, whom I admire for her refusal to merely toe the party line on issues such as electoral reform and political donations.
Yet, despite being a trained lawyer, she could not deliver her equally uninspiring 90-second retort to Byrne’s speech without reference to flashcards.
Many young people in Ireland do not hold strong political opinions, but this is a result, not a cause, of a failed political establishment. In keeping with historical trends, 122 seats out of 163 seats currently occupied in the 30th Dáil are held by two large parties – entirely indistinguishable from one another in terms of policy, and equally vacuous in terms of ideology.
Instead of competing on issues of policy, they compete on personality. They agree on most issues, and have taken turns in government depending on which seemed less incompetent than the other in the eyes of the electorate. Labour, which once drove a socialist agenda, joined the ideology-free bandwagon as soon as it found a leader, Eamon Gilmore, who was popular enough with the electorate to allow the party to compete with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.
For the political system to renew itself, it has to attract our most able graduates and become a genuine alternative to working in the private sector. Fine Gael’s suggestion that a certain number of Dáil seats should be filled using a national list system would certainly make politics a more appealing alternative to careers in business and law.
The idea that the ability to win a popularity contest at local level should be a prerequisite to running the country is an absurd one, and the political systems of Germany and the US are examples of functioning alternatives.
John Waters is on leave