‘But here in the Advent-darkened room
Where the dry black bread and the sugarless tea
Of penance will charm back the luxury’
Advent – Patrick Kavanagh
After much prompting and some subtle jibes from friends about how ‘you have been very quiet since Saturday’, here are my thoughts on how Fianna Fáil can recover.
Firstly, it needs to acknowledge the scale of the electoral thrashing that the party took. If there is to be any hope of recovery, we can’t make the mistake of thinking that this is just a temporary problem and that the electorate will automatically come flooding back.
Next, the party needs to realise that the process of atonement for the sins of the past is not over, indeed if anything it is just beginning. The next phase of that process is for the party to decide what it actually stands for. This is a question that most party members, if they were to be truthful, can’t adequately answer. We all know what we, as individual members, think it should stand for but we can’t say what we collectively stand for together. It is essential that a strong corpus of detailed policy form the basis for renewal. (Incidentally, it is only fair to readers that I should outline my views on what Fianna Fáil should stand for, and I will do so in another post in the coming days)
That policy debate presents significant challenges. There is a danger that different elements within the party may start trying to drag the party in different policy directions. It would be all too easy for Micheál Martin to shirk the clear policy decisions needed and go down a populist opposition route in order to maintain unity. This might even yield short term gains when the honeymoon for the next government ends. But it is not a formula for long term renewal.
The other side of renewal is organisational. While Fianna Fáil still has a decent infrastructure in most parts of the country, it has been creaking for a long time. Even in those areas where the organisation is still strong, there is a danger that it will start to disintegrate as defeated candidates step off the stage. Micheál Martin needs to immediately embark on a tour of constituency organisations and do the chicken-dinner circuit. This is time consuming, head wrecking work but it is what he signed up for and he needs to urgently make the membership feel loved and give them some hope.
One of the most immediate political challenges the party faces in selecting candidates for the Seanad election. Because of the vastly reduced number of Fianna Fáil county councillors following the 2009 local elections, the party will need to tightly manage its vote to maximise Seanad representation. Micheál Martin will have to tell the career Senators and older defeated TDs that they have had their day. How strongly he enforces obedience to this will be an early test of his mettle for the task of renewal.
