The third anniversary of the formation of the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats Government came and went yesterday, its passage marked only by a photocall of the Taoiseach and Tanaiste at Government Buildings and the publication of a progress report. The Cabinet also held its last meeting before heading into a four-week break for the month of August. The political season comes to a close after another fateful year - the adjournment of the tribunals will follow tomorrow - but with serious challenges mounting for the minority Coalition when business resumes in the autumn.
The Government's progress report on the implementation of its Programme for the Millennium is low-key. The vast bulk of the 87 pages is dull and uninspiring, more a recitation of departmental achievements, big and small, than an assessment of the visionary goals of government. Fianna Fail and the PDs say they are "on track" to deliver a standard income tax rate of 20 per cent and a higher rate , falling "to 40 per cent if economic conditions allow". They are also on course, they say, to deliver a minimum rate of £100 per week for all Social Welfare old-age pensioners. They don't mention that controversial word, individualisation, though phase two is due in the next budget. The proposal for a second commercial airport for Dublin seems to have vanished from the script. The commitment to address the issue of abortion, with another referendum demanded by three of the four Independents supporting the minority Coalition, does not feature.
In their introduction to this stock-taking exercise, the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste justly claim credit for laying the foundations for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, starting with the restoration of the IRA ceasefire in 1997 and the establishment of the Executive and the North/South political institutions last month. The nurturing of the peace process is painstaking, time-consuming and rewarding work. Mr Ahern and Ms Harney note that, between 1997 and 2000, Ireland has been transformed economically and politically.
The fruits of that transformation are now posing the biggest challenge, even threat, to the Fianna Fail/ PD partnership. The historic problems of unemployment and emigration have been substantially overcome. These successes, which hitherto have eluded all leaders since the foundation of the State, have bred new problems. Mr Ahern and Ms Harney say that our rapid economic growth means that we have outgrown our physical and social infrastructure. But they fail to define any political philosophy to confront our critical transport, inflation, housing, immigration and social exclusion problems, the down-side of the Celtic Tiger.
The Taoiseach and the Tanaiste are standing on their weakest ground with the assertion, in their progress report, that they have laid the foundations for the honest and open conduct of politics in the 21st century. They have set up the far-reaching inquiries underway in the tribunals, they say, and "we are determined to find the truth whatever it is". They have ensured, they add, that the legal framework for the conduct of politics has been changed radically. At the end of year three - the last weeks of which were most damaging to the reputation of the Government and its leaders - these claims sit uneasily with some of their recent actions: the nomination of Mr Hugh O'Flaherty to the European Investment Bank, the ill-judged comments leading to the indefinite postponement of Mr Charles Haughey's trial on charges of obstructing the McCracken tribunal and the question mark raised by the Moriarty Tribunal about the Fianna Fail party's co-operation with its inquiries.