Declan Harmon
When I saw the appointments to the boards of State companies made by Fianna Fáil ministers in their dying days in office it made me cringe with embarrassment. Such brazen brass-neckery is a microcosm of all that is wrong with Fianna Fáil and that has brought the party to 17% support in the polls.
However, the brass-neckery being displayed by the new government, while perhaps not as brazen, certainly doesn’t augur well for the ‘new-politics’ we have been promised.
Speaking at the Macgill Summer School last year, the now Minister for Jobs, Richard Bruton said that Fine Gael was committed to replacing the membership of every State board “in an orderly manner within six months of the formation of a new government, giving new members a clear letter of appointment setting out their duties, and requiring them to be approved by the Oireachtas”. The Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore agreed with Mr. Bruton at the time.
Yesterday, the government announced that it had decided, due to legal advice, not to replace members of boards that had been appointed by the previous administration.
So, it is the legal advice that is preventing the government from keeping its promises in this area. What a shame, therefore, that the government doesn’t have a 59-seat majority in some sort of legislative body that could change the law. Say, Dáil Éireann for example. It seems the new government observed plenty of the tricks of the trade during their wilderness on the opposition benches, because now they are putting out the excuse Fianna Fáil hid behind for many years for not doing something that didn’t suit: ‘legal advice’.
I suspect that, were they to be challenged to change the law to provide for the replacement of State boards, the coalition would throw back the other classic tool that governments use to not do something: say it would be unconstitutional. How convenient then that Fine Gael have committed to holding a series of referendums on a ‘Constitution Day’. Surely a simple amendment could be drafted that would get around any constitutional difficulties.
Instead of keeping to their pre-election promises on State boards, the new government is presenting us with a miserable little compromise. Board positions will be advertised online, but ministers will not be restricted to appointing from those who apply. Chairpersons of State bodies will have to go before the relevant Oireachtas committee to face questioning, however the committee will not have a veto on whether or not to approve the nomination. No change, just more of the same. And with a U-turn attached.
The public will tolerate the new government taking decisions and even breaking election promises out of necessity because of the economic mess left by their predecessors. However, it should not tolerate the government choosing not to do things promised in opposition simply because it no longer suits them.
While Fianna Fáil can’t say much in opposition on the State boards issue, there are other issues – particularly around political reform – where there are already signs that the new government’s appetite for action is waning. It will be those choices not made that hold the most potential for the opposition parties to land blows on the coalition.
