Coalition needs to speak with one voice about the Aer Lingus decision before the Dáil resumes, writes Stephen Collins.
The continuing controversy over Shannon airport has seen Fianna Fáil adopt its now familiar posture of attempting to act simultaneously as both Government and Opposition. The trick has worked to the benefit of the party on a number of occasions over the past decade, but it will be interesting to see whether the public is prepared to buy the routine one more time.
The timing of the current controversy in the middle of the summer has allowed Fianna Fáil, and now its Green Party partners in Coalition, to engage in an undisciplined bout of facing both ways. Dissenting Ministers and TDs have been able to indulge themselves because their convictions will not be put to the test of a vote in the Dáil until late September or early October.
In the media frenzy surrounding the Shannon issue, the positions adopted by the Opposition parties have been overshadowed by the competing claims of the two factions in Fianna Fáil. The sidelining of the Opposition may give some short-term satisfaction in the Government, but in the long run, it could well undermine its capacity to govern.
With Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley joining in with Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea in creating the impression that he wants the Government to change its official position, there is a real danger that the Coalition's authority could be undermined very early in its term of office.
Since Bertie Ahern became Taoiseach a decade ago, Fianna Fáil has perfected the art of acting as the Opposition to itself on a number of important issues such as tax individualisation, the reform of the health service and the issuing of taxi licences and in the process, marginalising the real Opposition. However, it was generally backbenchers who led the various campaigns, even if sometimes with the tacit support of more senior figures.
This time around, two Ministers have come out against the official line and the long-term consequences of that could be serious. If Ministers feel free to openly take different sides on major, controversial issues, it will not just make a mockery of the theory of collective Cabinet responsibility, the cohesion of the Government itself may be undermined. If it is unable to provide clear leadership on what is a relatively simple issue, how will the Coalition cope with potentially far more serious economic problems now looming into view?
The public is entitled to feel bemused by the fact that in its role as the main party of Government, Fianna Fáil has taken the firm position that it cannot intervene in the commercial management of Aer Lingus but, on the other hand, all the Fianna Fáil public representatives in the mid-west region, including a member of the Cabinet, have signed up to the campaign to persuade the Government to intervene.
Not only that, but O'Dea has used words like "armageddon" to describe the impact of the Aer Lingus decision to transfer its Shannon-Heathrow operation to Belfast. The Minister's intemperate description is a reflection of the frenzied response in the mid-west to the airline's decision.
The formal Government position, clearly enunciated by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and supported by his Cabinet colleagues Mary Hanafin and Dermot Ahern in recent days, reflects a more reasoned and logical response to the controversy. However, the continuing silence of the Taoiseach has given the impression to the objectors that they may still get what they want.
There is no doubt that the timing of the Aer Lingus announcement, and the refusal of the company management to sugar the pill by leaving Shannon with some Heathrow link, came as an unpleasant surprise to all members of the Government. However, the question they faced once the decision was made was how they could make the best of a difficult situation.
Dempsey and other senior Ministers had to face up to the legal constraints that bound them in their dealings with a publicly quoted company. Dermot Ahern revealed yesterday that the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, had been consulted on the matter and his advice will play a crucial part in guiding the Government's response.
Ministers are also keenly aware of the commercial disaster that would follow from a direct intervention to attempt to have the decision reversed by Aer Lingus management. Some tweaking of the decision would certainly come as a bit of a relief, but that is the most that can be expected. Minister for Finance Brian Cowen represents the public shareholding in the company and he will be centrally involved in whatever course of action finally emerges. There is a strong view in Government, enunciated publicly by Dempsey, that the Shannon lobby has exaggerated the impact of the Aer Lingus decision. That has hardened most hearts around the Cabinet table and stiffened the resolve of key Ministers not to intervene. The problem, though, is that one of their colleagues, Willie O'Dea, has lent his support to the campaign against the decision, while Gormley has given the appearance of supporting him.
The opposition of backbenchers and councillors is one thing, but the active involvement of Ministers in a campaign to change Government policy is another.
While the return of the Dáil is still over a month away, it will not be long coming around and the Coalition will need to speak with one voice by the time its resolve is formally tested in a vote.
Although the views of the Opposition parties have almost been drowned out by the two sides of Fianna Fáil, they have already indicated their intention of putting down Dáil motions to force Government TDs to nail their colours to the mast. Labour has already committed itself to forcing the issue in the Dáil and that will be the first real test of the dissenting TDs' mettle.
The Opposition parties have the indulgence not normally allowed to governments of being able to side with the objectors without having to fear the consequences.
Nonetheless, there has been a contrast between the outraged reaction of Fine Gael TDs in the mid-West, whose views echo their Fianna Fáil colleagues, and the more muted response by the party at national level. This is a reflection of the fact that many people outside the mid-west do not believe the doom-laden predictions of the Shannon lobby.
Apart from the political problems it may be building up for itself, another downside of the Government's ambivalent response to the controversy is that it has only served to obscure the real issues at the heart of the controversy. The absence of a reasoned debate about the real impact of the Aer Lingus decision on the mid-west hasmeant that voters have not been asked to consider the kind of rational options required in the long-term interests of both Aer Lingus and the country.