FROM THE ARCHIVES:Political correspondent Michael McInerney set the scene for Sean Lemass's first election as leader of Fianna Fáil in which he failed to win an overall majority but continued in office with Independents' support.
VOTING IN the general election will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 9.30 to-morrow. With the conclusion of the Labour and Fianna Fail final rallies and the Fine Gael rally to-night the stage – and the issues – will be set for the 1,700,000 voters to decide the Government for the next vital five years.
All elections have a central issue: sometimes it is stated clearly; sometimes it is felt. In 1948 the issue, following the Supplementary Budget of October 15th, 1947, and the threat of price increases and wage control, was price control, and Clann na Poblachta, Labour and Fine Gael beat Fianna Fail to establish the Inter-party Government. In 1951 the issue was the Mother-and-Child Scheme, and Fianna Fail regained office. In 1954 the issues were again prices and subsidies, and social standards generally. On this occasion Fianna Fail suffered a big defeat and butter prices immediately were reduced.
In 1957, after a balance of payments crisis, the issue became clearly inter-party or single party government. On this issue Fianna Fail scored the biggest victory in its history. Now the issue clearly is the economic future of the country and Ireland’s entry into the Common Market: easily the most serious economic problem ever set for this country. For his [sic] problem the Government relies on its Programme for Economic Expansion, a new planning authority to include the representatives of economic interests along with the Government, to formulate a further 5-year plan that would set targets and see that they were reached.
The Government declares that all other issues are subservient to this, and that social standards will rise as economic development grows and as national income rises. Fine Gael accepts this central issue, and in a comprehensive programme outlines its policy for economic expansion, with social improvements in health and education, and with special emphasis on easing compulsion on Irish in certificate examinations. The programme lacks the integration of the Government’s, but it has been put over with fire, drive and eloquence, and has caught the imagination of the many thousands who are uncommitted.
By its stress on the language the programme seems remote from the central issue of the election, but, in the absence of a great national personality, or of one single important issue, it could be a serious factor.
The most important sections of the Labour Party’s programme is its stress on national planning, public enterprise, expansion of existing publicly-owned industries and improvement in social services as the national income increases. The full backing of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions could be the most important feature of the election for the party.
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