The truth is Fianna Fáil has become wildly, spectacularly, incompetent.It is simply no good at governing, writes Fintan O'Toole
One of the great myths of Irish public life is that Fianna Fáil, love it or loathe it, gets things done. Very few people now believe that the party is motivated by big ideas or abiding passions. But it survives on its reputation for pragmatic effectiveness. It is the machine that makes the machinery of State work.
This is one of those notions that persists because it is useful in different ways to different people. Fianna Fáilers like it, obviously, because it makes them the natural party of government. Fine Gael and Labour like it because it implies that Fianna Fáil's success is down to some kind of technical knack that they themselves, if they try hard enough, might ultimately acquire.
The truth, however, is that Fianna Fáil has become wildly, spectacularly incompetent. Leaving aside all questions of right and wrong, of justice and equality, it is simply no good at governing. It can't spend money well. After five years of previously unimaginable State wealth, the basic mechanics of social organisation just don't work.
At this fundamental level, politics is about getting from A to B. You look at where you are, and where you want to be, and you get from here to there. In this sense, the state of transport in the Republic is eloquent both literally and metaphorically.
Two recent studies make the point. A survey by the Association of European Airlines finds that Dublin is now the worst airport in Europe for flight delays. And a study by the Small Firms Association has found that Dublin is second only to Calcutta in the length of time it takes to make a simple business delivery five kilometres away. The 57 minutes it takes in Dublin is more than three times the figure for New York, and four times as long as in London.
These irritations are symptoms of a deeper failure. Irish people often make very good managers, and there is no shortage of skilled, intelligent and committed people trying to deal with the crises in transport, or housing or health. The failure is political. Our rulers don't know how to get from A to B.
A telling example is a discussion chaired by Bryan Dobson on Morning Ireland last Wednesday between Sister Stanlislaus Kennedy of Focus Ireland and Noel Ahern, Minister of State with responsibility for housing. The subject was the provision of social housing.
Sister Stan was pointing out that while the housing waiting lists increased by 15,000 households to nearly 54,000 between 1999 and 2001, the output from the local authority and voluntary housing sector was fewer than 12,000 houses.
Under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, the Government is committed to the provision of 25,000 units of social housing by next year. Initially, Noel Ahern announced: "We are on target." When the figures were put to him, the discussion went like this:
Noel Ahern: That was a commitment or a target. It was an ambitious one. We're a little bit behind on it now.
Bryan Dobson: Was it a commitment or a target?
Noel Ahern: Well, whichever way you like to call it.
Sister Stan: It was a commitment, Minister, and you've just said you're honouring it.
Noel Ahern: We're there or thereabouts. Wait until the end of it. There's a year and a half to go. It's too early to say whether we achieve it or not. It was established and agreed at a time when there was plenty of money, too. And let's hope that the money continues to come. We are under pressure. We may or may not achieve that target, but we have made every effort to do so.
Here, in a nutshell, is the kernel of public incompetence. Within a matter of minutes we move from a confident claim that a commitment is being honoured to a position where the 25,000 houses may or may not be a commitment, and may or may not be achieved.
The difference between a commitment and a target is crucial. A commitment is something you know you can achieve because you have thought it through and are prepared to stick with even if the circumstances change. A target is something you would like to reach, but may well miss. So long as you give it your best shot, no one can blame you.
And this mentality pervades every issue. There is a political promise - to eliminate hospital waiting lists in two years, for example - which looks like a commitment. After a while it is a target. And then it goes into the misty realms of making every effort and hoping that the money continues to come.
The effective delivery of public services demands an ability to set priorities. It requires the courage not to make promises you have no intention of keeping and the ideological drive to fulfil the promises you do make. When both of these are absent, pragmatism degenerates into incompetence.