The vision of our leaders is bankrupt. Now is the time to change our political culture
IN TIMES of crisis, more than any other time, we need our politicians to provide leadership and clarity so we can make some sense of what we should be doing as citizens. In our current malaise we are still waiting for them and our public and corporate leaders to empower us with ideas so that we may reimagine our new Republic. It is a time of trauma and also of great opportunity and the need to correct this for the next generation should be a priority.
What has been evident is that our artists, writers, thinkers, philosophers and (some) economists have been suggesting alternatives and a way of thinking afresh. I’m not suggesting that these new ideas will make us financially solvent again but in the absence of a dynamic political leadership, it is as good a place to start as any. It will, at the very least, replenish our idealism.
Our politicians, public policymakers and corporate leaders are still in a shock of inertia and their political wisdom and vision is bankrupt. The best they can come up with is a competition with a cash prize (Your Country, Your Call). Another All-Ireland talent show. This is not a criticism of the competition itself, but it is a clear public symptom of the lack of confidence we have in the leaders of our society and the lack of trust they have in each other in providing a way forward.
I know that, as a taxpayer, I’ll be funding Nama and the capitalisation of our banks, for the rest of my life. Even when I retire, I expect my old-age pension to be taxed. As a citizen I will have a stake in the running of this country until I am cremated and in return I intend to contribute to that.
That is the connection we need to make, the promotion of active citizenship so that we can empower (through elections) our leaders to govern with a constitution that proclaims Ireland a Republic.
I want our politicians and policymakers to give themselves permission to be visionary and imaginative when it comes to redrawing a new constitution. Instead of a competition we should have a National Citizenship Forum.
The “insiders” of our political establishment who guided us into this mess of economic disaster and political stasis will find it difficult to be the same team to forge a fresh political way forward. Your Country, Your Call is a symptom of this, but not the solution.
The playwright Thomas Kilroy, in Christ Deliver Us!(currently running at the Abbey Theatre), provides us with some clarity and hope, when Fr Séamus offers advice to young Michael, who has to decide whether to die or make a commitment to living and pursuing his ideals.
“Know nothing! A clean slate! Ignorance is the start of everything, Michael. That’s what drives us forward. Questions. Always questions. We are born under the sign of a question-mark, Michael. And that’s how we end, too. Questions, questions!”
The need to question and interrogate is exercising all sectors of society including our community of artists and theatre makers. However, there is a disconnect between all of us. We are in our own trenches, clamouring for our own demands and competing for whatever bread is left on the table.
What the Celtic Tiger era achieved was the institutionalisation of that disconnection between citizens and the democratic process. This wasn’t the case in the first 30 years of the 20th century when common causes united citizens and communities.
How can we achieve this again? The diaspora event at Farmleigh last September was extraordinary and cathartic as it showed how diverse community leaders can converge and debate the issues. However, wouldn’t have been better if this debate had occurred in the Oireachtas? Imagine, the debating chamber of the Seanad with Senators Séamus Heaney, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Dorothy Cross and Moya Doherty, debating with their political, economic and business peers.
We need to question and change political culture in Ireland and allow a mechanism where new ideas can be discussed. What the Celtic Tiger achieved was the privatisation of our democratic system and it validated the corruption in the democratic, political, religious and financial worlds. A rereading of this verse by a former senator, Nobel Laureate and co-founder of the Abbey Theatre suggests that history has repeated itself:
What need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And the prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone?
For men were born to pray and save:
Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.
WB Yeats, September 1913
I'm critical of the "insiders" who are still in positions of authority but what I'm angry about it that we let it happen. Webecame consumers rather than citizens. It is time now to bury the description "Ireland Inc" for good, and build towards a newly defined (newly named) and collectively shared Republic. The move away from calling ourselves "consumers" to being proud and active "citizens" is what I want.
We sleepwalked our way through every election recently based on our individual needs rather than shared community values. We were greedy and adopted the McCreevy doctrine of “spending it while we have it”.
Tom Murphy in his last play – The Last Days of a Reluctant Tyrant– summed up brilliantly the moment when Ireland dispensed with the ideal of a democratic Republic and shifted towards the culture of corporate, consumerist Ireland Inc: "When they lose the sense of awe people turn to property . . . and religion."
The challenge for our political culture is to make policy that we might not see the benefits of for 20 years. What if we took a decision to invest in education now? To have a new curriculum on citizenship, design, science, maths, languages and cultural studies from the age of five upwards. If we invest in design and cultural studies now, we will be developing a new generation of leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs.
We insist that our politicians (which was readily accepted by them) keep to the short-term agenda of what Declan Kiberd calls the "present tensism" ( Irish TimesAugust 29th, 2009). The need to get a quick result, announce a decision, lay a foundation stone, cut a ribbon before there is any look at the long-term consequences is our political culture. Good long-term policymaking is forsaken for immediacy. The savaging of Government policy on the spatial strategy in exchange for decentralisation is an example of this.
I know from my own stewardship of the Abbey Theatre that I need to balance my programming and administrative decisions between achieving success here and now and the longer-term strategy of investing in the work of emerging generations of artists. Michael Cronin says that instead of the culture of "Me, right now!" we ought to be moving to a culture of "All of us, all of the time" ( Journal of Music in Ireland– Nov/Dec 2008). It is about inculcating a sense of common purpose in us as a community and we can't just blame the politicians alone for this.
Can we, as citizens, sacrifice our immediate concerns for a longer-term shared goal of a healing society? We require politicians who have the ability and political courage to plan long-term and to pursue the “All of us, all of the time” philosophy. Reform of our electoral system alone is not the answer; we need profound change at local government level. This combination will change the political culture of the next generation.
Although it might be easy to criticise our electoral system as the reason why our national politicians have a more clientelist approach to constituency work, I’m not sure if it is entirely to blame. It is a cliche, but we often get the politicians we want and deserve. We expect our elected representatives to do our bidding and service for us, to bypass the official system so that we can get something done. Trevor Sargent’s correspondence with An Garda Síochána is the latest example. We often treat our politicians as State servants (and they are happy to comply too) It is a subconscious conspiracy. We can’t see the value in having more efficient public services and better local government when our local TD can deliver it quicker.
We are not encouraging ourselves to be active citizens, we believe that our responsibility begins and ends with our action in the polling booth. We are colluding in the bind of “present tensism” with our politicians. It suits us both.
Public sector reform will free up valuable time for our TDs and Senators to contribute more to policymaking and less to lobbying. We need to redefine for our elected representative what success means. Not letters to judges, guards, department of social welfare and the passport office; but by making better laws, providing transparency in decision-making, and a more diverse and vibrant Oireachtas that reflects our healing Republic, which in turn can deliver expert Government.
To stick to Thomas Kilroy’s advice of “Questions! Questions!” I would like to question the value of our Constitution as a framework for a 21st-century Irish Republic. It is a dry and legalistic document from another era. It should offer us hope by defining the goal of our Republic so that it can assist us in responding to change. How can we accept as a multicultural, secular society that all authority and actions of our people and the State should derive from the most Holy Trinity? This time of crisis affords us great opportunity to redefine ourselves and pursue the goals of our founders.
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution is currently deliberating electoral reform. There is public interest in this and I have found myself attending such meetings, which are well attended. There is an interest and a hunger in citizens to engage with new ideas and recalibrate the vision of our country.
Mary Wilson asked me recently on Drivetimewho I would suggest from Fianna Fáil to be promoted in a reshuffle. I found it difficult to answer. Other than political mavericks and chairmen of Oireachtas committees, I don't know the calibre of backbenchers in Fianna Fáil (or in Fine Gael either). I haven't heard them discuss or contribute significantly to any major public policy issue.
The party system in the Oireachtas has morphed into lethargy and stagnant party discipline. A rigid party competitive structure leaves no space for nuanced debate and is a symptom of our fractured political culture. Policy debates are regularly conducted outside of the chambers. Recently Mattie McGrath TD spoke against the reversal of the pay cuts to senior civil servants and yet, sided with the Government on the issue. Saying one thing and doing another doesn’t add to the integrity of Irish political culture.
Commentators, politicians and academics have put forward suggestions on political reform, ranging from a revised electoral system, increasing voter participation, reform of the Seanad, supporting affirmative action when it comes to increasing participation by women in the Oireachtas and the appointment of non-elected people to the cabinet. I’m in favour of all these changes but I would like to concentrate on a solution that will work but that requires long-term political courage.
In April 2004, I visited Mike Ashe in Durham County, north Carolina. He is the director of the board of elections. The board’s mission is “to provide free, open, honest, and professionally managed election services to [Durham County] community”.
I was there to observe democracy at work at a local government level. We often criticise the democratic process at a national level in the US. But a resident of Durham County can vote for the board of the local school, can debate and participate in the local budget spending. Ashe also explained to me the campaign of increasing voter participation, through a flexible voter registration policy.
I came away with the strong sense that the political culture in Durham County encourages political participation, not only by making voting easier, but also by making the connection between voting for the school board and your child’s education. This is also achieved by paying tax at a local level. I’m not suggesting increasing taxation but I am advocating that a portion of our taxes should be raised and spent locally. This will gives us all a sense of ownership of our local library, swimming pool, school, health centre, arts centre, sports field, childcare facility and public spaces. Ireland is too small to be divided up in the current local authority structure. A regional-based approach has to be considered and this was alluded to in the spatial strategy. We need to make the connection and provide the power to citizens at a local level so that bottom-up activity will enable national politicians to concentrate on their executive and legislative responsibility in the Oireachtas.
What I learned from Ashe is what Noel Dempsey said in response to Brendan Howlin at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution debate on political reform: “The system of local government is one in which people spend money but have very little power. It delivers local services at the direction of national government. It is not, except in small areas, local democracy and it will remain like that until it has a revenue-raising role.” (November 18th, 2009)
A new local government system needs to be established which is funded and administered at a local level. This will revitalise our political culture, increase participation at a local level across all sectors and contribute to better policymakers and political leaders on a national level.
Fiach Mac Conghail is director of the Abbey Theatre
THE RENEWAL DEBATE: READERS' REACTIONS
FOLLOWING IS a sample of the reactions to Saturday'sIrish Times article by Declan Kiberd. They were posted on our microsite,Renewing The Republic , within the newspaper website, irishtimes.com. Go there today and add your comment.
Chris:Declan Kiberd is right. The system is broken . . . it needs to be recrea ted from outside the current political system. There is absolutely no desire to change things from within . . . they have arranged everything, including legislation, to protect their own narrow self-interest. Change will have to come from the people . . . from professionals as Declan Kiberd says who cannot put up with the frustration of living in an unprofessionally run country.
Rob Dowling:The key to getting young people involved in the future direction of the country will have to be an added emphasis on civics in school – perhaps even civics as a subject in the Leaving Cert.
Civics should cover the institutions of the country, how they emerged historically, how they interact with one another, the 15 government ministers and their briefs, the names of government departments, the difference between PRSI and PAYE, how to register a company at the Company Registrations Office and the various types of incorporation which exist, continuing “down” from national to county and city council level, and “up” to EU level.
Sean:Start a Tea Party Movement, put pressure on the politicians and the vested interests, in Ireland's case the unions.
Donald Draper:When does a goal stop being ambitious and slide into pomposity? Youre very close to that line here: "Ireland seems broken. The loss of trust in diverse figures of authority, in the church, business and banking, in politics and politicians, is palpable. How can we fix it? Surely you should have included the national media in the list above? A disappointing start to the series I have to say. Why give a professor in one of our elite universities a 2,000-word platform for his neo-Luddism and professional irritation with interference from administrators? Do any of us in this country really want to go back to "light touch" administration of our professions?
Derek O'Flaherty:Good. Now where can we get a guillotine?
Enda Murphy:Kiberd misses the point. What Ireland needs right now is to get back to where it was during the Tiger years: full employment, booming economy, positive spirit. Ireland doesnt need a new political movement.
David Crew:Interesting article, and the responses it provoked, are every bit as good! What struck me most, and instantly, was some of the age-old stone-throwing and apparent inability among some to just listen to what another has to say, with an open mind, and to respect that that person took the time to think about an issue and speak their mind, in public, without having to be boxed up or shouted down just because they are who they are socially or professionally.
Underpinning everything turning sour in our little republic can be traced back to three things: greed, disrespect and dishonesty – three ugly ducklings of life on earth.
Jim: It's time for some practical patriotism to help our country back on its feet. There are lots of retired men and women on good pensions living in Ireland. They have both skills and time and, I hope, a willingness to help out. Many would willingly give their time and expertise without expecting reward.