Area youth writes about our political system… oh where oh where will he find a political party that represents him? Perhaps he could ask a close relative with a former cabinet position?

Step forward Hugh McDowell (it must be the week or so for Hugh’s to be making questionable statements – but more on that anon). This guy, who appears to be a recent graduate is disillusioned with the Irish political system. We know this be cause he tells us that it’s not just him… ‘a disregard that young Irish people have for politics and politicians’.

Now, let me break this gently, but I can’t think of any period in my life when that hasn’t been true. Indeed I’d very hesitantly suggest that on big picture issues – climate change, etc, there may be slightly greater regard than previously. So all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the yoof and their disinterest don’t cut much ice with me.

He’s done some analysis and here’s what he found…

Having seen the grassroots activism of Barack Obama’s campaign first-hand during a year spent studying in California, I returned to Ireland determined to become more politically active. But I found myself caught in a bind. I couldn’t stomach the idea of supporting Fianna Fáil, a party that has proven itself devoid of integrity and ingenuity during their 2½ terms in office. I am neither an eco-warrior nor an extreme republican, so the Greens and Sinn Féin didn’t fit either. [‘…and neither are they!’ I’ll get my coat.]

I was left with a choice between Fine Gael and Labour, but, to my amazement, neither could articulate a solution to our economic woes that made more sense than Nama. So I resigned myself to the class of “floating voter”, dismayed with my incompatibility with any of our five major parties.

Let’s go back though for a second. He saw activism in California for Obama. Was it the ‘activism’ that attracted him rather than ideology, because truth is that we remain well served by the range of political entities available to us should we choose to join a party – unless one fits into a certain demographic.

Certainly his ideological leanings, as seen through out the article, seem to trend vaguely rightwards, although given that the sticking point is NAMA which in some respects is as technical as it is ideological, and in truth is hardly the ‘solution to our economic woes’ on any serious reading, but is instead a stop-gap measure, and from my perspective a pernicious one, aimed at shoring up one area of the economy, who can tell?

But hold on, political views trending rightwards, disenchanted with the Irish political scene, who is Hugh McDowell?

By even considering the idea of joining a political party, I engaged further in the political process than most. The experience of having a family member at cabinet level throughout adolescence has magnified my sense of how disconnected the political system is from my peers.

McDowell, McDowell… that name is strangely familiar… cabinet level… still not getting it… oh, wait… Ah. That McDowell.

So, given this insight let’s see what he thinks…

Ireland’s youth sees the Oireachtas as a shambles, largely populated by people who are middle-aged, corrupt, lacking in vision – and not very clever. We can’t expect young people to interact with the political system unless they are inspired by elected politicians. We need young, ambitious politicians who can demonstrate competence and dynamism on the political stage.

Tell us about the young politicians you do like…

There are few capable young politicians in Dáil Éireann. Leo Varadkar is articulate and smart, and, to Enda Kenny’s credit, holds a senior position in Fine Gael’s front bench despite only three years in the Dáil and his part in the failed leadership coup. Nevertheless, one can’t help but feel that he will have to wait for people like Richard Bruton, Simon Coveney and Phil Hogan to have a go at the leadership before he has his turn.

But…

…for every Leo Varadkar, there’s a Thomas Byrne. On an edition of RTÉ television’s The Frontline in February, the Fianna Fáil TD from Meath delivered an insipid and rambling 90-second speech designed to convince voters of Fianna Fáil’s merits.
How Byrne, aged 32, could think that describing Fianna Fáil as a “listening party”, a “community party” and a “republican party” would restore the faith of his young audience in the political system is beyond me. Hearing him described as one of his party’s “rising stars” revealed how desperate our politics has become.

Desperate, desperate. That FF, two and a half terms in government, no ingenuity, no integrity. But wait a second, wasn’t this family member at cabinet level during adolescence also a member of governments with Fianna Fáil for two of those terms ? Wasn’t he, unless I’m horribly mistaken, both A-G and Minister during that period?

Didn’t he see the insipidity and desperation of Fianna Fáil? Some ingenuity at work there.

Anyhow, check out this… for more evidence of the gross awfulness of our political class.

I was almost as disappointed with Fine Gael’s Lucinda Creighton, whom I admire for her refusal to merely toe the party line on issues such as electoral reform and political donations.
Yet, despite being a trained lawyer, she could not deliver her equally uninspiring 90-second retort to Byrne’s speech without reference to flashcards.

Tut tut. How uninspired. And her a ‘trained’ lawyer (let’s note as an aside that the trained ones are so much better than the untrained ones. Or maybe not).

But it’s not that our correspondent is unaware of ideology…

Many young people in Ireland do not hold strong political opinions, but this is a result, not a cause, of a failed political establishment. In keeping with historical trends, 122 seats out of 163 seats currently occupied in the 30th Dáil are held by two large parties – entirely indistinguishable from one another in terms of policy, and equally vacuous in terms of ideology.

He’s just a little coy in detailing it. Although some of us on the left will find the following paragraph entertaining.

Instead of competing on issues of policy, they compete on personality. They agree on most issues, and have taken turns in government depending on which seemed less incompetent than the other in the eyes of the electorate. Labour, which once drove a socialist agenda, joined the ideology-free bandwagon as soon as it found a leader, Eamon Gilmore, who was popular enough with the electorate to allow the party to compete with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Ahem.

But again, this doesn’t tell us much, does it? He’s for NAMA, but agin’ FF. He’s not a Green, not SF inclined (oh dear no…), the examples of pols he likes are drawn from FG and I think we all know where Varadkar sits on the political spectrum. Labour is an ideology free zone apparently (funny how he doesn’t know, or has forgotten, the LP/FG lash up in 2007). And… that’s it.

So what’s the solution? Is it another party? I mean it can’t be the current ones because the blessed Varadkar isn’t going to be within a sniff of power, according to young McDowell, anytime soon. Well, he doesn’t quite say that. Indeed for all the stuff about ideology free bandwagons he takes a sudden technocratic swerve.

For the political system to renew itself, it has to attract our most able graduates and become a genuine alternative to working in the private sector. Fine Gael’s suggestion that a certain number of Dáil seats should be filled using a national list system would certainly make politics a more appealing alternative to careers in business and law.

Let’s reflect upon the truth that that’s an amazing world to live in where politics is regarded as [feasibly/potentially] an alternative ‘career’ for those in business and law. Consider that for a second. It’s not about the represented, they hardly get a walk on part in all 890 or so words [he uses the words voters and electorate once each], it’s all about the representatives. Indeed they’re not really representatives at all because note the following… (by the way, here we see the rationale used for the inflated wages of our public representatives. For how else will one ‘attract’ the ‘best and the brightest’? That this now runs counter to prevailing [and correct] attitudes about excessive salaries paid out of the public purse must be galling to some).

The idea that the ability to win a popularity contest at local level should be a prerequisite to running the country is an absurd one, and the political systems of Germany and the US are examples of functioning alternatives.

Let’s put aside the apparent lack of knowledge he appears to have about the nature of the US political system where popularity contests at local level (albeit those localities vary in size from small to very large) are crucial, or his lack of interest, or is it outright dismissal of representative democracy, and consider that the task is ‘running the country’. For which we have already learned the most suitable candidates are those who otherwise would be in business or law.

You know, it’s not often that I read the line at the end of these columns, ‘John Waters is on leave’ and come away wanting the sage back. But want I do.