The Cedar Lounge Revolution

Start of the new year. Clearing out and updating old posts. And following up on previous stories. Stories which link in with more recent stories. I wonder if some of those reading the Irish Times back in November found themselves choking on their cornflakes as they read the following..

DUBLIN CITY councillors last night approved the council’s 2009 budget, which includes a €7.6 million cut in Government funding, despite opposition from Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.

Councillors voted by 28 to 22 votes to support the budget, with all Sinn Féin and Fine Gael councillors present voting against, apart from Fine Gael’s Bill Tormey.

No, not so much that (although Bill Tormey they say, hmmmm… anyone other than me read his autobiography?), as…

Fine Gael and Sinn Féin said they were voting against the budget because of the almost 7 per cent reduction in the Local Government Fund from the Department of the Environment and the increase of 3.3 per cent in commercial rates.

However, they were also voting against the Fianna Fáil and Labour voting pact which effectively controls the council and the mayoralty of the city. In a joint statement yesterday the parties opposing said it was “up to Labour and Fianna Fáil as the ruling coalition on the council to implement the Government’s and Minister John Gormley’s cuts”.

A joint statement no less. And in the face of the Labour/Fianna Fáil voting pact. I was frankly disbelieving and asked a few people I knew in SF were they aware of it, and they weren’t. Still, got to the SF website and there it is…

Following a meeting of Fine Gael and Sinn Féin councillors in Dublin
yesterday the two parties issued a joint statement where they declared
their intention to oppose the 2009 Budget for Dublin City Council.

In the joint statement issued by Cllrs. Gerry Breen on behalf of Fine Gael
and Daithí Doolan on behalf of Sinn Féin they said:

“The people of Dublin City are being asked to pay a heavy price for the
economic failures of the Government. The budget presented before us will
have a dramatically negative impact on the City in terms of expenditure
cutbacks and increases in rates…”

Curiously though Fine Gael are somewhat circumspect about it all. There’s no mention at all of it on their website, or at least not as far as I can see. And the co-issuer of the statement, Cllr. Gerry Breen is laudably reticent in taking any credit for it on his own website. Although, on a slightly different topic, and I know that the CLR isn’t world-beating in this respect, perhaps Gerry should get a proof-reader…

Please contact me with any political stories or humorous quotes you have heard of recent [sic].

It’s interesting on so many levels. Firstly it illustrates the way in which political alliances engaged in by one set of parties can generate counter-intuitive dynamics amongst those parties remaining. Secondly it demonstrates a certain steely pragmatism amongst FF and Labour, something that should be noted when we analyse the rhetoric emanating from the latter source as regards the Budget. Because they did not demur in the slightest from Lord mayor Eibhlin Byrne (FF) when she said:

“This is the best that can be presented in the current economic climate,” she said. “Any attempt to go against the budget or to bring down the council will only add to the insecurity that is already in the city.”

Which makes contemplating the nature of a Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition – had one been formed in May 2007 – a more than academic exercise. Or indeed a Fine Gael/Labour coalition.

And linked Fine Gael’s new burst of environmentally inclined language at their Ard Fheis, what are we to make of that reference to “…the Government’s and Minister John Gormley’s cuts” in the FG/SF statement?

Everyone has the Green Party in their sights these days. Everyone.

But to return to the SF/FG dynamic. It is, obviously, in a lesser political forum than the Oireachtas, and no doubt that – should fingers point – will be the cover used.

But it is not the only straw in the wind on this front. We already saw how the Labour Party were ultimately willing to do a deal with SF to permit Alex White become a Senator (and not he alone, if memory serves correct). It’s not as if I expect FG to accept the idea of SF as a political partner in the near future (nor do I think that tactical alliances are necessarily a bad idea… as ever it depends on circumstances), but it reminds me just a little of how Fine Gael and Democratic Left worked more closely than one might imagine back in the early 1990s before the Rainbow Coalition. Sure, they had a shared visceral detestation of SF. But even still. There was no end of animosity in certain circles in FG to the former WP.

Opposition does strange stuff to political parties. That said, does Brian Hayes know about this?